Germs, Guns, and Fear in Disaster Response: A Rapid Qualitative Assessment to Understand Fear-Based Responses in the Population at Large: Lessons From Sierra Leone 2014-2015.

We set out to assess the feasibility of community-focused randomized qualitative assessment at the start of an emergency to identify the root causes of fear-based responses driving the pandemic. We used key informant interviews, focus group discussions, reviewing of government and non-government organization documents, combined with direct field observation. Data were recorded and analyzed for key-themes: (1) lack of evidence-based information about Ebola; (2) lack of support to quarantined families; (3) culturally imbedded practices of caring for ill family members; (4) strong feeling that the government would not help them, and the communities needed to help themselves: (5) distrust of nongovernmental organizations and Ebola treatment centers that the communities viewed as opportunistic. On-the-ground real-time engagement with stakeholders provided deep insight into fear-based-responses during the Ebola epidemic, formed a coherent understanding of how they drove the epidemic, presenting an alternative to the standard disaster-response United Nations-strategy, producing community-driven solutions with local ownership.

Update on the Coordinated Efforts of Looking After the Health Care Needs of Children and Young People Fleeing the Conflict Zone of Ukraine Presenting to European Emergency Departments-A Joint Statement of the European Society for Emergency Paediatrics and the European Academy of Paediatrics.

This joint statement by the European Society for Emergency Paediatrics and European Academy of Paediatrics aims to highlight recommendations for dealing with refugee children and young people fleeing the Ukrainian war when presenting to emergency departments (EDs) across Europe. Children and young people might present, sometimes unaccompanied, with either ongoing complex health needs or illnesses, mental health issues, and injuries related to the war itself and the flight from it. Obstacles to providing urgent and emergency care include lack of clinical guidelines, language barriers, and lack of insight in previous medical history. Children with complex health needs are at high risk for complications and their continued access to specialist healthcare should be prioritized in resettlements programs. Ukraine has one of the lowest vaccination coverages in the Europe, and outbreaks of cholera, measles, diphtheria, poliomyelitis, and COVID-19 should be anticipated. In Ukraine, rates of multidrug resistant tuberculosis are high, making screening for this important. Urgent and emergency care facilities should also prepare for dealing with children with war-related injuries and mental health issues. Ukrainian refugee children and young people should be included in local educational systems and social activities at the earliest opportunity.

The Incident Management Response of the Emergency Departments in Belgium During the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that emergency departments (EDs) need to reorganize their operations rapidly. This study investigated the impact of the pandemic on structural and logistical issues at EDs and the measures taken. Belgian EDs were surveyed on the implemented changes at the start of the pandemic in relation to the 4 S's in disaster medicine: Structure, Staff, Supplies, and System. The study demonstrated that Belgian EDs felt largely unprepared for this pandemic, but nevertheless dynamically restructured their organization. A 46% increase in ED beds was created in different types of structures and more than 50% of all ED beds were reserved for COVID-19 care, but overall the number of patient presentations dropped by 29%. EDs deployed extra personnel, additional training, and psychological support. More than 50% reported an acute shortage of personal protective equipment, and several reported a shortage of ventilatory equipment and medications.

European Resuscitation Council Guidelines 2021: Executive summary.

Informed by a series of systematic reviews, scoping reviews and evidence updates from the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation, the 2021 European Resuscitation Council Guidelines present the most up to date evidence-based guidelines for the practice of resuscitation across Europe. The guidelines cover the epidemiology of cardiac arrest; the role that systems play in saving lives, adult basic life support, adult advanced life support, resuscitation in special circumstances, post resuscitation care, first aid, neonatal life support, paediatric life support, ethics and education.

[Executive summary]. / Kurzfassung: Leitlinien des European Resuscitation Council 2021.

Informed by a series of systematic reviews, scoping reviews and evidence updates from the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation, the 2021 European Resuscitation Council Guidelines present the most up to date evidence-based guidelines for the practice of resuscitation across Europe. The guidelines cover the epidemiology of cardiac arrest; the role that systems play in saving lives, adult basic life support, adult advanced life support, resuscitation in special circumstances, post resuscitation care, first aid, neonatal life support, paediatric life support, ethics and education.