ABSTRACT
Introduction: When the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in Cuba, a training setting had already been designed for students of all the majors in the field of medical sciences who, as part of their training, should internalize the responsibilities that medicine implies, which is not only limited to the acquisition of scientific and academic knowledge. Objective: To determine the medical sciences students from Camagüey's knowledge for performing active COVID-19 screening. Methods: An observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out in September 2021. The study universe was 2573 students, belonging to all the majors in the field of medical sciences who were involved in active COVID-19 screening within the Camagüey Municipality. A sample of 416 students was selected in eight health areas of this municipality, by using nonprobabilistic convenience sampling. A descriptive, qualitative, individual survey containing open and closed questions was elaborated and validated. Results: The sample was represented by the female sex in a 70.7 %, while the highest percentage belonged to the medical school (73 %). 55 % responded that they had a good training for carrying out active COVID-19 screening and 79.8 % recognized television as the most significant way for knowledge acquisition. 93.3 % considered that the clinical and epidemiological methods were significant to develop the activity. Conclusions: In the present research, the female sex predominated. Likewise, television was recognized as the best way for knowledge acquisition and most of the participants expressed the value of the clinical-epidemiological method for acquiring knowledge. It was considered that students should be provided with the tools for self-training to exploit the virtual setting and the active platforms even more. © 2023, Editorial Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: The results are presented of a research carried out in students from the University of Medical Sciences of Camagüey who were involved in the active COVID-19 screening in eight health areas of Camagüey Municipality. Objective: To determine the influence of active COVID-19 screening on the formation of values in students from the University of Medical Sciences of Camagüey. Methods: A survey was elaborated and applied to 416 intentionally selected students of medical sciences. The experience obtained in the active COVID-19 screening was assessed, as well as its influence in the students' performance as future health professionals, the human values strengthened in the task and the main tendencies that influenced such values formation. Results: In the sample studied, the female sex and the medical school were more representative. 82 % percent of the surveyed students recognized the importance of active screening for their performance as future health professionals. Responsibility was the value that was most strengthened, while the acquisition of new knowledge and skills was the tendency to stand out in more than 45 % of the respondents. Conclusions: Values formation from active COVID-19 screening has represented an effective experience in the comprehensive development of medical sciences students in Camagüey, since it has made it possible to confront the epidemic;in addition, it has allowed them to develop skills, as well as human and professional values of great importance for their future. © 2022, Editorial Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Active screening in Cuba demonstrated wide usefulness and effectiveness in the confrontation of the COVID-19 pandemic. The participation of students and professors from medical universities contributed to greater efficiency. Objective: To describe the usefulness of active research in the confrontation of the COVID-19 pandemic, as an epidemiological strategy and a scientific-cultural experience. Methods: An observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out. The universe was made up of 140 students of medical science. The sample was composed of twelve students from a screening brigade, two family medicine specialists and two nursing graduates from the family medical offices selected by nonprobabilistic sampling by feasibility, organized in pairs. The actions were structured in four stages: recognition, characterization, rectification-confrontation and consolidation. The data were obtained from the surveys carried out and from the daily data collection model. Results: The procedure used, with dates of history, arts and sciences, as well as field trip to historical sites, was novel for the students and staff of the family medical offices. 83% considered the work carried out as very useful and 75% valued it as mostly different. 100% of the population was studied by screening every week. Conclusions: Active screening is an effective diagnostic action that can be used for contributing to cultural training and strengthening ideological-political work with students. © 2021, Editorial Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The screening testing is an effective tool to control the early spread of an infectious disease such as COVID-19. When the total testing capacity is limited, we aim to optimally allocate testing resources among n counties. We build a (weighted) commute network on counties, with the weight between two counties a decreasing function of their traffic distance. We introduce a network-based disease model, in which the number of newly confirmed cases of each county depends on the numbers of hidden cases of all counties on the network. Our proposed testing allocation strategy first uses historical data to learn model parameters and then decides the testing rates for all counties by solving an optimization problem. We apply the method on the commute networks of Massachusetts, USA and Hubei, China and observe its advantages over testing allocation strategies that ignore the network structure. Our approach can also be extended to study the vaccine allocation problem.