Innovative high-fidelity simulation for vaccination training of pharmacist including emergency cases - a randomised controlled study

IntroductionRecently, pharmacists in Germany were allowed to administer influenza and COVID-19 vaccines for people aged 12 years and older in order to increase vaccination coverage rates. To adapt pharmacy curriculum for clinical practice, an innovative, high level vaccination training course comprising clinical skills, techniques required for level of competence was developed with participants interacting either with a high-fidelity simulator or low-fidelity injection pad. Clinical scenarios to manage adverse events were also implemented.MethodsA randomized controlled trial using a pre-post-design with pharmacy undergraduates alongside with a theoretical part was performed. The intervention group interacted with a high-fidelity simulator, while the control group was trained with low-fidelity injection pads. Before and after the respective training each participant went through an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) and each participant completed a self-assessment questionnaire and knowledge quiz.ResultsOSCE Score were raised through an analytical checklist examining skills in anamnesis, patient information, vaccination process, and handling emergency case. Both training methods showed a significant (p<0,01) increase of skills but a significant (p<0,01) greater increase in the intervention group compared to the control group, particularly in vaccination process (p=0,007). Both Groups showed a similar increase of self-assessment score raised through a 6-point-Likert scale, and no significant differences were observed in the quizzes.ConclusionsHigh fidelity simulation proves to be an appropriate tool to train pharmacy students for vaccine administration, as a new pharmaceutical service and enable the students to recognize and manage adverse events.

Review: Remote Disease Monitoring in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the archetypal inflammatory arthritis, remains a complex and challenging disease to manage in spite of the abundance of new therapies in the last 20 years. The unpredictable relapsing/remitting nature of RA is at odds with the current prevailing system of scheduled follow-ups, leaving patients with RA to manage pain, flares, and medications between appointments, which may be of little value if occurring during a period of disease control. The rapid progress in the field of mobile health (mHealth) in the last 10 years has led to a proliferation of smartphone applications (apps) targeted at people with RA. Harnessing the power of smartphones to deliver remote monitoring for patients with RA has gone from an exciting possibility to an urgent necessity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Apps developed solely by commercial providers have been found to be of limited utility in disease monitoring. However, multiple global institutions have developed mHealth technology to support remote monitoring of RA patients, utilizing asynchronous technology for patients to submit indicators of their disease activity, ranging from validated electronic patient-reported outcome measures, to innovative monitoring utilizing smartphone biosensors. This review discusses the current published evidence for mobile applications designed to facilitate remote monitoring of RA, the common barriers faced in implementing mhealth monitoring and strategies to overcome these, and potential areas for future research.

Telecommunication in the COVID-19 era: As an assessment tool for patients with dermatomyositis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the archetypal inflammatory arthritis, remains a complex and challenging disease to manage in spite of the abundance of new therapies in the last 20 years. The unpredictable relapsing/remitting nature of RA is at odds with the current prevailing system of scheduled follow-ups, leaving patients with RA to manage pain, flares, and medications between appointments, which may be of little value if occurring during a period of disease control. The rapid progress in the field of mobile health (mHealth) in the last 10 years has led to a proliferation of smartphone applications (apps) targeted at people with RA. Harnessing the power of smartphones to deliver remote monitoring for patients with RA has gone from an exciting possibility to an urgent necessity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Apps developed solely by commercial providers have been found to be of limited utility in disease monitoring. However, multiple global institutions have developed mHealth technology to support remote monitoring of RA patients, utilizing asynchronous technology for patients to submit indicators of their disease activity, ranging from validated electronic patient-reported outcome measures, to innovative monitoring utilizing smartphone biosensors. This review discusses the current published evidence for mobile applications designed to facilitate remote monitoring of RA, the common barriers faced in implementing mhealth monitoring and strategies to overcome these, and potential areas for future research.

Student's perspectives about their learning profile before and after Covid-19

Changes in educational paradigms have affected the understanding of how individuals learn. The emergence of Covid-19 has created unprecedented disruption in the education systems. This study attempts to analyse students' perceptions of their learning profile before and after Covid-19, using two different cohorts of students from five schools. Participated in October 2019 (first application) 369 students, and in November 2021 (second application) 294 students. These are students of two educational cycles: grades 7-9 and 10-12. The Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory questionnaire has seven dimensions: 'and learning', 'critical curiosity', 'creativity', 'learning relationships', 'strategic awareness', 'resilience';and it was administered to understand how students self-assess their learning profile. Descriptive and inferential statistics were calculated to analyse the data and detect possible differences in the learning profiles. The results show that students in grades 7-9 seem to have been the most affected by Covid-19 (means were statistically significant in all dimensions except 'resilience') when compared to students in grades 10-12 (statistically significant only in 'critical curiosity', 'learning relationships' and 'meaning making' dimensions). In conclusion, the learning profiles have changed between the applications in both cycles. A higher percentage of students rated themselves worse in almost all dimensions in the sec-ond application. However, the increased autonomy during Covid-19 could explain the average increases in 'resilience' in grades 7-9 and 'creativity' in grades 10-12 from the first to the second application.

Analysis of influencing factors of blood glucose levels in diabetic patients during epidemic of COVID-19.

Objective: To investigate the blood glucose control of diabetic patients during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, and to explore the factors affecting blood glucose. Method(s): Three hundred and fifty patients with diabetes mellitus hospitalized in the Endocrinology Department of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Military Medical University from 2017 to 2019 were selected, and we send questionnaires (a self-made questionnaire containing 39 questions, Zung anxiety self-assessment scale, Zung depression self-assessment scale) to the patients through WeChat group. After the effective questionnaires were collected, the patients were divided into good blood glucose control group (fasting blood glucose <=7 mmol/L and 2 h postprandial blood glucose <=10 mmol/L) and poor blood glucose control group (fasting blood glucose>7 mmol/L and/or 2 hours postprandial blood glucose>10 mmol/L). Chi square test or Fisher exact probability method and t test were used to compare the differences between the two groups. In Multi-factor logistic regression, the backward regression method was performed. Result(s): A total of 310 questionnaires were collected, 4 of which did not meet the requirements were eliminated, and a total of 306 valid questionnaires were analyzed. There were 108 cases (35.3%) in the well-controlled group and 198 cases (64.7%) in the poorly controlled group. Compared with well-controlled group, there was a higher percentage of patients with aged >=45 years, diabetes course >=5 years, combined with chronic complications of diabetes, weekly exercise time during the epidemic period<150 min,weekly monitoring of blood glucose frequency <=1 to 2 times and sleep disorders during the epidemic, anxiety, and depression in poorly controlled group, and there were statistically significant differences (P<0.05).The above 8 factors with P<0.05 were included in the logistic regression model. Diabetes course >=5 years, weekly exercise time during the epidemic<150 min, sleep disturbance during the epidemic, weekly monitoring of blood glucose frequency <= 1 to 2 times, depression were risk factors for poor blood glucose control (P<0.05). Conclusion(s): During the epidemic period, the blood glucose level of diabetes patients was generally high. The factors that affected blood glucose control included a long course of diabetes, short exercise time, low monitoring frequency of blood glucose, sleep disorders, and depression.Copyright © 2020 by the Chinese Medical Association.

Faculty Self-Assessment on Telesimulation for Health Sciences Education

The COVID-19 pandemic put the regular and daily operation of the simulation centers on hold, thus reinventing the ways to ensure academic continuity. Faculty had to migrate from traditional face-to-face teaching to the remote digital online modality due to the emergency Covid-19 health confinement;this drastic change did not occur because of innovation. The instrument "Self-assessment on telesimulation for health sciences education” was designed and applied to 100 teachers from various Latin American countries. The dimensions of Active Learning, Interaction and communication, Multimedia, and Telesimulation were evaluated. The dimension with the highest average was Multimedia, and the one with the lowest average was Telesimulation. The telesimulation technique promotes the development of cognitive, kinesthetic, and psychomotor skills allowing training and feedback. There were identified gaps that impact professors' use of telesimulation as a pedagogical strategy.

Somatic health according to people with severe mental disease.

OBJECTIVES: Patients with schizophrenia have a 15- to 20-year shorter life expectancy compared with the general population. The aim of this study was to explore these patients' perception of their physical health. METHODS: A patient reported outcomes measure (PROM) has been developed by patients with severe mental disease. This survey had to better capture undetected, under-rated and non-prioritized physical domains by traditional routine clinical scales that are important for people who live with mental health disease. These patients have tested the applicability of this PROM with peers with severe mental disease in medical, social and community-based centers from Hauts-de-France. RESULTS: Two and a half years have been required to develop this PROM, to test its applicability to patients with severe mental disease and to analyze the results. The study process has been slowed by the sanitary context induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Thirty-two questionnaires have been collected by the participants. Despite this low number of data, participants have been satisfied by the results and their experience. The results show that people with severe mental disease consider physical health as a major concern, notably pain and somatic diseases. External factors (such as accessibility to health care and medication) and internal factors (such as self-esteem, cognitive and negative symptoms, sleep, alimentation, and substance use) have been identified as barriers for physical health. CONCLUSIONS: These results support the development of PROMs highlighting personal experience of people with severe mental disease. The data obtained thanks to these measures will allow to build programs to help them to cope with barriers for physical health.

AI-Based and Digital Mental Health Apps: Balancing Need and Risk

Mental health and well-being are increasingly important topics in discussions on public health [1]. The COVID-19 pandemic further revealed critical gaps in existing mental health services as factors such as job losses and corresponding financial issues, prolonged physical illness and death, and physical isolation led to a sharp rise in mental health conditions [2]. As such, there is increasing interest in the viability and desirability of digital mental health applications. While these dedicated applications vary widely, from platforms that connect users with healthcare professionals to diagnostic tools to self-assessments, this article specifically explores the implications of digital mental health applications in the form of chatbots [3]. Chatbots can be text based or voice enabled and may be rule based (i.e., linguistics based) or based on machine learning (ML). They can utilize the power of conversational agents well-suited to task-oriented interactions, like Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, or Google Assistant. But increasingly, chatbot developers are leveraging conversational artificial intelligence (AI), which is the suite of tools and techniques that allow a computer program to seemingly carry out a conversational experience with a person or a group. © 1982-2012 IEEE.

The Concurrent Validity and Test-Retest Reliability of Possible Remote Assessments for Measuring Countermovement Jump: My Jump 2, HomeCourt & Takei Vertical Jump Meter

Featured ApplicationThe same tool could be used repeatedly to track the changes in CMJ performance. Average jump heights should be analyzed. Practitioners and sports professionals without extensive knowledge of assessment could self-administer CMJ tests using these devices.Mobile applications and portable assessments make remote self-assessment of the countermovement jump (CMJ) test possible. This study aimed to investigate the concurrent validity and test–retest reliability of three portable measurement systems for CMJ. Thirty physically active college students visited the laboratory twice, with two days in between, and performed three jumps each day. All jumps were recorded by My Jump 2, HomeCourt, and the Takei Vertical Jump Meter (TVJM) simultaneously. Results indicated significant differences among the three systems (p < 0.01). HomeCourt tended to present the highest jump height mean value (46.10 ± 7.57 cm) compared with TVJM (42.02 ± 8.11 cm) and My Jump 2 (40.85 ± 7.86 cm). High concurrent validities among assessments were found (r = 0.85–0.93). Good to excellent reliability of jump assessments was demonstrated (ICC3,1 = 0.80–0.96). Reliable coefficients of variation were shown in all measurements (2.58–5.92%). Significant differences were revealed among the three apparatuses while they demonstrated high intra-device test–retest reliability. TVJM was the most reliable, and average jump heights were recommended for analysis.

Analysis of influencing factors of blood glucose levels in diabetic patients during epidemic of COVID-19.

Objective: To investigate the blood glucose control of diabetic patients during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, and to explore the factors affecting blood glucose. Method(s): Three hundred and fifty patients with diabetes mellitus hospitalized in the Endocrinology Department of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Military Medical University from 2017 to 2019 were selected, and we send questionnaires (a self-made questionnaire containing 39 questions, Zung anxiety self-assessment scale, Zung depression self-assessment scale) to the patients through WeChat group. After the effective questionnaires were collected, the patients were divided into good blood glucose control group (fasting blood glucose <=7 mmol/L and 2 h postprandial blood glucose <=10 mmol/L) and poor blood glucose control group (fasting blood glucose>7 mmol/L and/or 2 hours postprandial blood glucose>10 mmol/L). Chi square test or Fisher exact probability method and t test were used to compare the differences between the two groups. In Multi-factor logistic regression, the backward regression method was performed. Result(s): A total of 310 questionnaires were collected, 4 of which did not meet the requirements were eliminated, and a total of 306 valid questionnaires were analyzed. There were 108 cases (35.3%) in the well-controlled group and 198 cases (64.7%) in the poorly controlled group. Compared with well-controlled group, there was a higher percentage of patients with aged >=45 years, diabetes course >=5 years, combined with chronic complications of diabetes, weekly exercise time during the epidemic period<150 min,weekly monitoring of blood glucose frequency <=1 to 2 times and sleep disorders during the epidemic, anxiety, and depression in poorly controlled group, and there were statistically significant differences (P<0.05).The above 8 factors with P<0.05 were included in the logistic regression model. Diabetes course >=5 years, weekly exercise time during the epidemic<150 min, sleep disturbance during the epidemic, weekly monitoring of blood glucose frequency <= 1 to 2 times, depression were risk factors for poor blood glucose control (P<0.05). Conclusion(s): During the epidemic period, the blood glucose level of diabetes patients was generally high. The factors that affected blood glucose control included a long course of diabetes, short exercise time, low monitoring frequency of blood glucose, sleep disorders, and depression.Copyright © 2020 by the Chinese Medical Association.

Online argumentation-based learning aided by digital concept mapping during COVID-19: Implications for health management teaching and learning

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected educational systems worldwide, forcing them to abruptly shift from face-to-face to online teaching and learning. This case study illustrates how a traditional lecture-based activity for undergraduate students in a Management of Health Service Organizations program was transformed into an argumentation-based learning activity using the technique of digital concept mapping and was deployed in an online format during the COVID-19 lockdown. Design/methodology/approach: The students were tasked with solving an ill-structured problem bearing significance for their future professional lives and connected to the contents of their course (entitled "Assimilation of service quality in health systems"). The activity was composed of two phases. In Phase 1, participants were asked to provide five arguments to establish their proposed solution to the problem by using a concept map on a digital platform (Mindomo). In Phase 2, they were asked to substantiate their arguments. Reflective journals were used to ascertain how the participants viewed the activity. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data by searching for themes demonstrating different epistemological positions. Findings: Six themes were inductively derived from the students' reflections: (1) transitioning from passive to active learning;(2) generating epistemic change;(3) social perspective-taking;(4) domain-based knowledge;(5) prior knowledge and experience;and (6) online collaboration with other students. Episodes, thoughts and feelings expressed by the students were reported so as to increase the reliability of the recurrent and common themes. Originality/value: This study mainly shows that combining constructivist teaching and learning tools with advanced technology in an online course enables the development of lifelong learning capabilities among students in the health management professions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Self-assessment of Psychological Issues of Bangladeshi and Russian Students on the Online Learning During the Pandemic

Currently the educational systems of many countries have a growing influence of the changing educational paradigm due to global changes in global politics, economics' transition to the information society and the challenges of pandemics. COVID-19 has significantly affected tertiary learning systems in Bangladesh, Russia and all around the world, and has forced curricula to be transformed into an online format. The research was conducted at the University of Dhaka and the University of Rajshahi in Bangladesh, as well as at the Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University in Russia. The analysis of the participants' answers helped to identify the following psychological issues on learning continuity by the university students, such as: attention, motivation, emotion and anxiety of students. According to the research, students from Bangladesh got tired faster, felt loneliness more acutely, and experienced health problems than their Russian colleagues during online learning. Russian students took notes of their lectures more often, claimed to use various memorization techniques, spent more time online while studying, and were more demanding of handout materials and presentations. Bangladeshi students faced more difficulties with concentration and focusing their attention during online training. The motivation and interest of Bangladeshi students in online learning were significantly lower than Russian students' learning motivation. Also, the level of stress and anxiety among Bangladeshi students was higher. Thus, psychological issues on learning continuity based on learner satisfaction are vital to minimize the negative impact of rapid changes in the educational process and ensure effective online education during digital transformation. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Faculty Self-Assessment on Telesimulation for Health Sciences education

The COVID-19 pandemic put the regular and daily operation of the simulation centers on hold, thus reinventing the ways to ensure academic continuity. Faculty had to migrate from traditional face-to-face teaching to the remote digital online modality due to the emergency Covid-19 health confinement;this drastic change did not occur because of innovation. The instrument "Self-assessment on telesimulation for health sciences education" was designed and applied to 100 teachers from various Latin American countries. The dimensions of Active Learning, Interaction and communication, Multimedia, and Telesimulation were evaluated. The dimension with the highest average was Multimedia, and the one with the lowest average was Telesimulation. The telesimulation technique promotes the development of cognitive, kinesthetic, and psychomotor skills allowing training and feedback. There were identified gaps that impact professors’use of telesimulation as a pedagogical strategy. IEEE

COVID-19 Risk Prediction and Contact Tracing

The emergence of the coronavirus COVID- 19 switched the limelight onto digital health technologies. To help the infection rates from surging, numerous governments are looking into applications that could help disrupt infection chains beforehand. We created a Self-Assessment Test using COVID Symptoms, that's capable of assessing the threat of COVID- 19 in the user using ML. The data also tracks the user and gives safety tips and recommendations. Using the Track Module, the user is notified of the nearby containment zones. The contact tracing module helps the user to maintain a specified distance from others. © 2022 IEEE.

A Digital-First Health Care Approach to Managing Pandemics: Scoping Review of Pandemic Self-triage Tools.

BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, many patient-facing digital self-triage tools were designed and deployed to alleviate the demand for pandemic virus triage in hospitals and physicians' offices by providing a way for people to self-assess their health status and get advice on whether to seek care. These tools, provided via websites, apps, or patient portals, allow people to answer questions, for example, about symptoms and contact history, and receive guidance on appropriate care, which might be self-care. OBJECTIVE: This scoping review aimed to explore the state of literature on digital self-triage tools that direct or advise care for adults during a pandemic and to explore what has been learned about the intended purpose, use, and quality of guidance; tool usability; impact on providers; and ability to forecast health outcomes or care demand. METHODS: A literature search was conducted in July 2021 using MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Cochrane databases. A total of 1311 titles and abstracts were screened by 2 researchers using Covidence, and of these, 83 (6.76%) articles were reviewed via full-text screening. In total, 22 articles met the inclusion criteria; they allowed adults to self-assess for pandemic virus, and the adults were directed to care. Using Microsoft Excel, we extracted and charted the following data: authors, publication year and country, country the tool was used in, whether the tool was integrated into a health care system, number of users, research question and purpose, direction of care provided, and key findings. RESULTS: All but 2 studies reported on tools developed since early 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies reported on tools that were developed in 17 countries. The direction of care advice included directing to an emergency room, seeking urgent care, contacting or seeing a physician, being tested, or staying at home and self-isolating. Only 2 studies evaluated tool usability. No study demonstrated that the tools reduce demand on the health care system, although at least one study suggested that data can predict demand for care and that data allow monitoring public health. CONCLUSIONS: Although self-triage tools developed and used around the world have similarities in directing to care (emergency room, physician, and self-care), they differ in important ways. Some collect data to predict health care demand. Some are intended for use when concerned about health status; others are intended to be used repeatedly by users to monitor public health. The quality of triage may vary. The high use of such tools during the COVID-19 pandemic suggests that research is needed to assess and ensure the quality of advice given by self-triage tools and to assess intended or unintended consequences on public health and health care systems.

Self-assessed competence of final-year nursing students.

AIM: To examine the overall level of self-assessed competence of final-year nursing 'bachelors' degree students in the Czech Republic. In addition, the study aimed at the factors associated with the students' level of competence. DESIGN: A cross-sectional observational study. METHODS: Data were collected with the Czech version of the Nurse Competence Scale from 274 final-year nursing students of the bachelor's nursing program. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analyses. RESULTS: Majority of the students (80.3%) assessed their level of competence as good or very good. The highest level of competence was assessed in the category of 'managing situations' (VAS mean 67.8) and 'work role' (VAS mean 67.2). Previous work experience in healthcare and successful supervisory experience had a positive association with self-assessed competence. Students who completed clinical placement during the COVID-19 pandemic assessed their level of competence as lower than students before the pandemic. No Patient or Public Contribution.

Consumer Visual and Affective Bias for Soothing Dolls.

Soothing dolls are becoming increasingly popular in a society with a lot of physical and mental stress. Many products are also combined with soothing dolls to stimulate consumers' desire for impulse buying. However, there is no research on the relationship between consumers' purchasing behavior, consumers' preference for soothing dolls, and visual preference. The purpose of this study was to examine the possible factors that affect the emotional and visual preferences of soothing dolls. Two local stores' sales lists were used to extract three different types of dolls. The 2D and 3D versions of these three dolls were used. Subjective emotional preferences were examined by the self-assessment manikin (SAM) scale, with 5-point Likert scales for valence and arousal factors. An eye tracker was used to examine visual preferences, both before and after positive/negative emotion stimulation by the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). There were 37 subjects involved, with an age range of 20-28 years. The experimental results show that the average valence/arousal scores for 2D/3D dolls were (3.80, 3.74) and (2.65, 2.68), respectively. There was no statistical difference, but both 2D and 3D pictures had high valence scores. Eye tracker analysis revealed no gaze difference in visual preference between 2D and 3D dolls. After negative emotional picture stimulation, the observation time of the left-side doll decreased from 2.307 (std 0.905) to 1.947 (std 1.038) seconds, p < 0.001; and that of the right-side picture increased from 1.898 (std 0.907) to 2.252 (std 1.046) seconds, p < 0.001. The average observation time ratio of the eye on the 3D doll was 40.6%, higher than that on the 2D doll (34.3%, p = 0.02). Soothing dolls may be beneficial for emotion relaxation. Soothing dolls always have high valence features according to the SAM evaluation's measurement. Moreover, this study proposes a novel research model using an eye-tracker and the SAM for the SOR framework.

Electronic self-assessment of COVID-19 symptoms among healthcare workers.

Purpose: Daily monitoring of COVID-19 symptoms/history of contact in hospital staff is useful for ensuring safety in the hospital. An electronic self- assessment tool could be used to monitor staff without using excessive resources and resulting in unnecessary contact. The objective of our study was to describe the results of a self-assessment COVID-19 daily monitor log in hospital employees. Methods: A description of characteristics of staff who filled the log and follow-up of those who reported symptoms/history of contact was collected. An online self-assessment of COVID-19 symptoms/contact history was developed and used at a hospital in Bahrain. All staff completed the daily COVID-19 log. Data were collected during the month of June 2020. Results: Out of 47,388 responses, 853 (2%) of staff reported either COVID-19 symptoms/history of contact with diagnosed COVID-19 case. The most frequently reported symptom was sore throat (23%), followed by muscle pain (12.6%). The highest frequency of staff who reported symptoms and/or contact was in nurses. Of those who reported symptoms/contact, 18 were diagnosed with COVID-19. The majority (83.3%) of the infected staff obtained the virus through community transmission, and only 16.7% obtained the virus through hospital transmission. Conclusion: The electronic self-assessment log for staff during COVID-19 could be used as a safety measure in hospitals. Moreover, the study highlights the importance of targeting community transmission in an effort to increase hospital safety.

Core competencies in applied infectious disease epidemiology: a framework for countries in Europe.

In 2009, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) developed a competency framework to support European Union countries and the European Commission in ensuring a competent public health workforce for Europe. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic emphasised the importance of harmonised public health strategies and competencies across international boundaries, specifically for infectious diseases. This perspective presents the process to update the competency framework for applied infectious disease epidemiology, highlighting ECDC's efforts to support countries with using the framework. ECDC commissioned the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) to update the framework through publication and dissemination of a technical report and a self-assessment tool linked to training resources. A mixed methods approach to gather input from experts in relevant specialities included qualitative interviews with 42 experts, workshops with ECDC Technical Advisory Group and an online survey of 212 public health professionals across Europe and beyond. Modifications resulted in 157 core competencies in 23 domains, each mapping to one of six subject areas of importance in applied infectious disease epidemiology. The framework serves as a basis to update the curriculum of the ECDC Fellowship programme with two alternative paths: intervention epidemiology or public health microbiology.

Agreement for diagnosis of depression and anxiety between self-assessment with e-questionnaire and psychiatric telephone interview among post-COVID-19 patients.

BACKGROUND: Psychological disorders, such as depression and anxiety, are common among individuals who have experienced coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); however, diagnosis may be challenging and subjected to invalidity. This study aimed to examine agreement between online self-assessment and psychiatric telephone interview among COVID-19 survivors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out from March to June 2021 in Afzalipour Hospital, Kerman, Iran. The inpatients confirmed with COVID-19 were contacted within the first week after discharge and were asked to fill the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS) and socio-demography questionnaire. They were later interviewed using Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A). Agreement between the data extracted from self-report and telephone interview was analyzed using Cohen's kappa coefficient, sensitivity, and specificity. RESULTS: Out of 200 post-COVID patients, 60 participants completed all assessments. Prevalence of depression was observed to be 88% via telephone interview and 45% via self-assessment. Moreover, 83% of the participants were diagnosed with anxiety according to the telephone interview, in comparison to 31% diagnosed with anxiety using self-report questionnaire. The agreement between online self-assessment and telephone interview for depression and anxiety was not significant (κ = 0.08 and κ = 0.1, respectively). CONCLUSION: The discordance between online self-report and clinician's assessment via phone contact interview indicates that using self-report evaluations is not sufficient as the single assessment tool for mental health monitoring and reflects the need to employ multiple assessments for diagnosis of psychiatric problems in pandemics.