Metrics of efficient use of operating rooms during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic

Introduction: the COVID-19 pandemic has induced a transformation in the way hospitals function, causing a decrease in the time and efforts dedicated to surgical activity, which in turn has caused delays in the surgery schedule of most hospitals. This represents a major public health problem, significantly compromising the principle of equity that inspires public health systems throughout the world. To address this problem, it would be of the utmost importance to put in place initiatives to measure and improve surgical efficiency. Objective: evaluate indicators of efficiency in the use of operating rooms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Material and methods: a descriptive, longitudinal retrospective study was conducted on 3554 patients scheduled for surgery during a one-year period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Indicators of efficiency in they use of operating rooms were measured. The data was processed using SPSS v-25.0. Results: a total of 3,554 surgeries were scheduled, 1,309 of them emergency surgeries, 1,979 elective surgeries, and 266 deferred surgeries. The following parameters were estimated: Starting time of the procedure (42.32 ± 37.04 min);opportunity for emergency surgeries (104.69 ± 102.55 min);starting time of anesthesia (10.11 ± 9.85 min);starting time of surgery (40.03 ± 24.68 min);time of admission to post-anesthesia care unit/intensive care unit (PACU/ICU) (15.35 ± 29.94 min);turnover or replacement time (177.97 ± 174.33 min);active surgery time (27.70%). Conclusions: the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted the indicators of efficient use of operating rooms, posing new challenges for the management and organization of surgical work. (English) [ FROM AUTHOR] Introducción: la pandemia por COVID-19 ha emplazado una transformación hospitalaria, esto acarreó un decremento de la actividad quirúrgica e implicó un aplazamiento en la programación, lo que representó un problema, ya que comprometió sensiblemente el principio de equidad que inspira a los sistemas sanitarios. Así, resultó imperativa la implementación de iniciativas para medir y mejorar la eficiencia quirúrgica. Objetivo: medir los indicadores de uso eficiente del quirófano durante la pandemia por COVID-19. Material y métodos: se realizó un análisis descriptivo, longitudinal y retrospectivo en 3,554 pacientes programados para cirugía, durante la pandemia en un período de un año, además se midieron los indicadores de uso eficiente del quirófano. Los datos fueron procesados en SPSS v-25.0. Resultados: se programaron 3,554 cirugías, 1,309 urgencias, 1,979 electivas, 266 diferidas. Se estimó un tiempo de inicio del procedimiento 42.32 ± 37.04 min, oportunidad para urgencias quirúrgicas 104.69 ± 102.55 min, tiempo de inicio de anestesia 10.11 ± 9.85 min, tiempo de inicio de cirugía 40.03 ± 24.68 min, tiempo para la admisión en la unidad de cuidados postanestésicos/unidad de terapia intensiva (UCPA/UTI) 15.35 ± 29.94 min, tiempo de rotación o recambio 177.97 ± 174.33 min y tiempo quirúrgico activo 27.70%. Conclusiones: la pandemia por COVID-19 impactó negativamente en los indicadores de uso eficiente del quirófano, lo que implicará nuevos retos en la gestión y organización de la jornada quirúrgica para su mejora. (Spanish) [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Revista Mexicana de Anestesiologia is the property of Colegio Mexicano de Anestesiologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Association Between COVID-19 Pandemic and Serious Mental Illness: Systematic Review within Salutogenesis Model for Public Health Management

Background: The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the constant transformation of the SARS-COV-2 virus form, exposure to substantial psychosocial stress, environmental change, and isolation have led to the inference that the overall population's mental health could be affected, resulting in an increase in cases of psychosis. Objective(s): We initiated a systematic review to determine the impact of the SARS-COV-2 virus and its long-term effects-in both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases-on people with or without psychosis. We envisioned that this would give us an insight into effective clinical intervention methods for patients with psychosis during and after the pandemic. Method(s): We selected fifteen papers that met our inclusion criteria, i.e., those that considered participants with or without psychiatric illness and exposed to SARS-COV-2 infection, for this review and were retrieved via Google, Google Scholar, MEDLINE, PubMed, and PsychINFO Database. Key Gap: There is a dearth of research in understanding how COVID-19 affects people with or without a prior personal history of psychosis. Result(s): The systematic review summary provides insight into the state of knowledge. Insights from the systematic review have also been reviewed from the salutogenesis model's perspec-tive. There is moderate evidence of new-onset psychosis during the COVID-19 pandemic in which some antipsychotics treated the psychotic symptoms of patients while treating for COVID-19. Suggestions and recommendations are made for preventive and promotive public health strategies. Conclusion(s): The Salutogenesis model and Positive Psychology Interventions (PPI) provide another preventive and promotive public health management approach.Copyright © 2023 Bentham Science Publishers.

Student mental health under conditions of online university classes in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic-quantitative and qualitative findings

Background. Students are also considered particularly vulnerable to mental stress and illness during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.Objectives. In the present study, a quantitative inventory of the mental health of students at the University of Applied Sciences ("Hochschule fur Gesundheit Bochum") was conducted. In addition, their subjective experience of online classes in the winter semester 2020/2021 was surveyed in the course of a qualitative study.Methods. Within the framework of an online survey, well-being (WHO-5) and possible presence of depressive disorders (PHQ-9) of 435 students at the "Hochschule fur Gesundheit Bochum" (Germany) were surveyed in March 2021 using validated instruments. Furthermore, students of the university were interviewed about their experiences with online courses.Results and conclusion. Compared to the general population, the well-being of the respondents was below average and an above average percentage of respondents (26.9%) had a reasonable suspicion of depression. The results from the qualitative research showed a predominantly negative assessment of the students' experience with regard to online courses. In particular, a lack of social contacts and difficulties in the digital implementation of courses gave rise to this impression. Above all, the data pointed out the considerable importance of universities and studying with regard to the mental health of students. Thus, there is a need for action, especially in terms of understanding oneself as an important actor with regard to triggering students' mental stress, on the one hand, and as a place for health-promoting interventions, on the other. Consideration of both perspectives offers various starting points for health promotion and health management in universities.

Construction and use of a risk stratification instrument for vaccination of elderly against Covid-19 / Construção e utilização de instrumento de estratificação de risco para vacinação de idosos contra a Covid-19 / Construcción y uso de un instrumento de estratificación de riesgo para la vacunación del anciano contra el Covid- 19

Objetivo: Relatar a experiência da construção e utilização de um instrumento de estratificação de risco para vacinação de idosos contra a COVID-19. Métodos: Relato da experiência desenvolvida no município de Massapê ­ Ceará, durante o ano de 2021, a partir do início da campanha de vacinação de idosos contra a COVID-19. Descrição da Experiência: Por conta da escassez de imunobiológicos, na fase inicial da vacinação contra a COVID-19, a Secretaria da Saúde do município de Massapê, estado do Ceará, criou um instrumento para estratificação de riscos sanitários, epidemiológicos e sociais dos idosos, contendo seus dados sociodemográficos e as comorbidades. Após o estabelecimento das variáveis, foram estabelecidos escores para os estratos de risco, que foram classificados em baixo (um a três pontos), médio (quatro a seis pontos), alto (sete a nove pontos) e muito alto (dez pontos e mais). Considerações Finais: O estudo mostra que, apesar da pandemia de COVID-19, uma crise sanitária global sem precedentes como já dito, ações pontuais, mesmo que localizadas, podem ter efeito em cadeia e ser replicadas em outros cenários e momentos.

Objective: To report the experience of building and using a risk stratification instrument for vaccinating the elderly against COVID-19. Methods: Report of the experience developed in the municipality of Massapê - Ceará, during the year 2021, from the beginning of the vaccination campaign for the elderly against COVID-19. Experience Description: Due to the scarcity of immunobiologicals, in the initial phase of vaccination against COVID-19, the Department of Health of the municipality of Massapê, state of Ceará, created an instrument to stratify the health, epidemiological and social risks of the elderly, containing sociodemographic data and comorbidities of the elderly. After establishing the variables, scores were established for the risk strata, which were classified as low (one to three points), medium (four to six points), high (seven to nine points) and very high (ten points and more). Final Considerations: The study shows that, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented global health crisis as already mentioned, specific actions, even if localized, can have a chain effect and be replicated in other scenarios and times.

Objetivo: Relatar la experiencia de construcción y uso de un instrumento de estratificación de riesgo para la vacunación de ancianos contra la COVID-19. Métodos: Informe de la experiencia desarrollada en el municipio de Massapê - Ceará, durante el año 2021, desde el inicio de la campaña de vacunación de ancianos contra la COVID-19. Descripción de la Experiencia: Debido a la escasez de inmunobiológicos, en la fase inicial de la vacunación contra la COVID-19, la Secretaría de Salud del municipio de Massapê, estado de Ceará, creó un instrumento para estratificar los riesgos sanitarios, epidemiológicos y sociales de los ancianos, que contiene datos sociodemográficos y comorbilidades de los ancianos. Luego de establecer las variables, se establecieron puntajes para los estratos de riesgo, los cuales se clasificaron en bajo (uno a tres puntos), medio (cuatro a seis puntos), alto (siete a nueve puntos) y muy alto (diez puntos y más). Consideraciones finales: El estudio muestra que, a pesar de la pandemia de COVID-19, una crisis sanitaria mundial sin precedentes como ya se mencionó, las acciones específicas, aunque sean localizadas, pueden tener un efecto en cadena y replicarse en otros escenarios y tiempos.

The Work of Nurses in Primary Health Care: Crossings of the New Public Management.

The literature in the field of health management mentions a concept called new public management (NPM), introduced in Brazil and France at the end of the 20th century. The objective of the study was to analyze the repercussions of the work of nurses in primary health care in Brazil and France under the influence of NPM. This is an excerpt of a double-titled thesis, which is a research intervention with nurses from two Brazilian states and five French departments. Data were produced between February 2019 and July 2021. The public policy Health on the Hour acted as an institutional transducer, provoking a reduction in access and producing effects on professional practices. In both countries, NPM amplified the predominance of technical and quantifiable acts, the focus on individual care, and the loss of autonomy. Nurses reported insurmountable situations, using the metaphor "Sophie's choice". The results showed that making dilemmatic decisions has been the daily routine of nurses, which has not resulted in debureaucratization and higher quality of care.

Area-specific covid-19 effects on health services utilization in the Democratic Republic of the Congo using routine health information system data.

BACKGROUND: Since March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has shocked health systems worldwide. This analysis investigated the effects of the pandemic on basic health services utilization in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and examined the variability of COVID effects in the capital city Kinshasa, in other urban areas, and in rural areas. METHODS: We estimated time trends models using national health information system data to replicate pre-COVID-19 (i.e., January 2017-February 2020) trajectories of health service utilization, and then used those models to estimate what the levels would have been in the absence of COVID-19 during the pandemic period, starting in March 2020 through March 2021. We classified the difference between the observed and predicted levels as the effect of COVID-19 on health services. We estimated 95% confidence intervals and p-values to examine if the effect of the pandemic, nationally and within specific geographies, was statistically significant. RESULTS: Our results indicate that COVID-19 negatively impacted health services and subsequent recovery varied by service type and by geographical area. COVID-19 had a lasting impact on overall service utilization as well as on malaria and pneumonia-related visits among young children in the DRC. We also found that the effects of COVID-19 were even more immediate and stronger in the capital city of Kinshasa compared with the national effect. Both nationally and in Kinshasa, most affected services had slow and incomplete recovery to expected levels. Therefore, our analysis indicates that COVID-19 continued to affect health services in the DRC throughout the first year of the pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: The methodology used in this article allows for examining the variability in magnitude, timing, and duration of the COVID effects within geographical areas of the DRC and nationally. This analytical procedure based on national health information system data could be applied to surveil health service disruptions and better inform rapid responses from health service managers and policymakers.

Factors Influencing the Health of Participants in Religious Mass Gathering Ceremonies in Iraq: A Systematic Review

Introduction: In the last decade, the number of religious mass gathering ceremonies, which take place in Iraq, has increased considerably. Millions of participants visit the country annually from across the world to reach Karbala on foot or by other vehicles for participation in a religious ritual called Arbaeen, which lasts about 20 days. Unlike the Hajj mass gathering, another important annual religious mass gathering event of Muslims, an evidence-based review of scientific literature about influential factors on the health of participants in these ceremonies in Iraq has not been done.Methods: Using PRISMA guidelines and searching PubMed, Scopus, ISI_Web of Science, Cochrane Library, ProQuest, and Google Scholar databases, original English language studies focused on participants' health in religious ceremonies of Iraq until October 2021 were selected. The methodological quality of the studies and the risk of bias were checked using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) checklists. In addition, the data from the Iraqi Ministry of Health and other organizations, including WHO and CDC, about Iraq's health condition and other resources were used to describe the related findings better and make health recommendations for the participants.Results: Thirty-two studies passed our criteria and were included for analysis. There was not any clinical trial. All of them were observational (cross-sectional) or qualitative (interview) research;the majority had low to moderate quality scores. Considering the limitations, the leading health risks of participants in religious ceremonies in Iraq include road accidents, insufficiency of Iraq's health system, cardiovascular disease, respiratory tract (including Covid-19) infections, unhealthy food and drink, gastrointestinal infections (including hepatitis), and zoonotic infections(leishmaniasis).Conclusion: Regarding the grandeur of Iraqi-related mass gatherings, preparation must begin before the events. Pre-participation examination, vaccination of high-risk individuals, and training of pilgrims and authorities on the health hazards are critical.

Shared longitudinal health records for clinical and population health

The ability of a health information exchange (HIE) to consolidate information, collected from multiple, disparate information systems, into a single, person-centric health record can provide a comprehensive and longitudinal representation of an individual's medical history. Shared, longitudinal health records can be leveraged to enhance the delivery of individual clinical care and provide opportunities to improve health outcomes at the population level. This chapter describes the clinical benefits imparted by the shared health record (SHR) component an HIE infrastructure. It also characterizes the potential public health benefits of the aggregate level, population health indicators calculated, stored, and distributed by a health management information system (HMIS) component. Tools for visualizing health indicators from the HMIS, including disease surveillance systems developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, are also described. Postpandemic components such as the SHR and HMIS will likely play critical roles in strengthening health information infrastructures in states and nations. © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Quality of routine health data at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia, Haiti, Laos, Nepal, and South Africa.

BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, governments and researchers have used routine health data to estimate potential declines in the delivery and uptake of essential health services. This research relies on the data being high quality and, crucially, on the data quality not changing because of the pandemic. In this paper, we investigated those assumptions and assessed data quality before and during COVID-19. METHODS: We obtained routine health data from the DHIS2 platforms in Ethiopia, Haiti, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Nepal, and South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal province) for a range of 40 indicators on essential health services and institutional deaths. We extracted data over 24 months (January 2019-December 2020) including pre-pandemic data and the first 9 months of the pandemic. We assessed four dimensions of data quality: reporting completeness, presence of outliers, internal consistency, and external consistency. RESULTS: We found high reporting completeness across countries and services and few declines in reporting at the onset of the pandemic. Positive outliers represented fewer than 1% of facility-month observations across services. Assessment of internal consistency across vaccine indicators found similar reporting of vaccines in all countries. Comparing cesarean section rates in the HMIS to those from population-representative surveys, we found high external consistency in all countries analyzed. CONCLUSIONS: While efforts remain to improve the quality of these data, our results show that several indicators in the HMIS can be reliably used to monitor service provision over time in these five countries.

Ethical problems experienced by nurse managers in the pandemic of COVID-19 in a university hospital / Problemas éticos vivenciados por enfermeiros gestores na pandemia da COVID-19 em um hospital universitário

RESUMO Objetivo compreender os problemas éticos vivenciados por enfermeiros gestores no contexto da pandemia da COVID-19. Métodos estudo qualitativo, realizado com 19 enfermeiros gestores. Os critérios de inclusão foram enfermeiros que exerciam a função de gestão há, pelo menos, seis meses, e os de exclusão, os que ocupavam cargo assistencial. Coleta de dados realizada por meio de entrevistas individuais com roteiro semiestruturado e análise documental, e analisados por meio da Análise de Conteúdo. Resultados os problemas éticos estão relacionados a: duplicidade e falta de informação sobre as normas e rotinas; ausência de fluxo dos pacientes; mudanças de rotina sem comunicação com os enfermeiros coordenadores; absenteísmo e presenteísmo da equipe de enfermagem; recusa de remanejamento por parte dos técnicos; profissionais da enfermagem que optaram por atuar no setor da COVID-19 e ganhar adicional de insalubridade e os que não optaram devido ao medo da doença; e conflitos provenientes do paciente. Conclusão a análise revelou situações marcadas por problemas éticos que comprometem a dinâmica de trabalho e a qualidade do atendimento. Contribuições para a prática a compreensão dos problemas éticos contribui para a promoção de melhorias no planejamento, intervenção e preparo dos profissionais para lidar com questões conflitantes vivenciadas na gestão hospitalar.

ABSTRACT Objective to understand the ethical problems experienced by nurse managers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods qualitative study, conducted with 19 nurse managers. The inclusion criteria were nurses who had held a management position for at least six months, and the exclusion criteria were those who held an assistance position. Data were collected through individual interviews with a semi-structured script and document analysis and analyzed using Content Analysis. Results the ethical problems were related to duplicity and lack of information about norms and routines; lack of patient flow; routine changes without communication with the nurse coordinators; absenteeism and presenteeism of the nursing team; refusal of reassignment by technicians; nursing professionals who chose to work in the COVID-19 sector and earn additional unhealthy salary and those who did not choose due to fear of disease; and conflicts arising from the patient. Conclusion the analysis revealed situations marked by ethical problems that compromise the dynamics of work and the quality of care. Contributions to practice understanding ethical problems contributes to the promotion of improvements in planning, intervention, and preparation of professionals to deal with conflicting issues experienced in hospital management.

Focus on Liability of Residences for Elderly and Sick People: A Case Series and Medico-Legal Issues.

Residences for elderly and sick people, self-sufficient or dependent, are varied. To date, the liability profiles of these structures are not clearly delineated, and increasingly often, their operating and organization criteria are entrusted to subnational, regional, or local regulations. Among the various deficits, there is the keeping of a complete and detailed documentation/diary of the patient, the lack of which can generate medico-legal problems. In this paper, we present three cases of guests in residences for a dependent person brought to the attention of the Institute of Forensic Medicine of the University Hospital of Palermo due to criminal proceedings, where the lack of existing documentation in the structure and, in some cases, the behavior of the professionals working there, led the evaluator to deduce the organization's culpability.

Gadgets Made for Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 infection in a Small University

Development of gadgets, which are an easy input system in the health survey and a simple carbon dioxide (CO2) alarm, for preventing infection of COVID-19 in a university's campus is discussed. Cluster infection did not occur in the rooms where a gadget of them was installed, until summer of 2022. © 2023 Owner/Author.

Population health management

Population health management (PHM) is a systematic approach that uses information technology and digital health tools to improve health and healthcare at the population-level. PHM programs identify individuals who could benefit from a set of PHM interventions;implement computable logic to stratify patients according to risk;and implement protocol-based logic to assign individuals within each stratum to specific interventions. PHM is a promising approach to help achieve the Quintuple Aim of healthcare: (i) improving population health through population-level interventions;(ii) enhancing the care experience by shifting healthcare from the clinic to the patient's home;(iii) reducing costs by focusing on health promotion and prevention;(iv) improving the work life of the health care workforce by reducing clinic workload;and (v) advancing health equity by maximizing reach through a combination of digital and human-based patient outreach interventions. This chapter discusses the components of a technical infrastructure to support PHM, including data sources (registries, electronic health records), data analytics tools, patient outreach and engagement tools, and patient tracking dashboards. We also describe real-world examples of PHM programs focused on chronic disease management, genetic testing for hereditary cancers, colorectal cancer screening, COVID-19 testing and vaccination, and tobacco cessation. PHM is expected to experience substantial growth with novel digital health technologies, such as sensors, phone apps, conversational agents, and virtual reality;artificial intelligence;and new data sources. © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Japanese Consumers' Attitudes towards Obtaining and Sharing Health Information Regarding Over-the-Counter Medication: Designing an Over-the-Counter Electronic Health Record.

Designing an over-the-counter medication electronic health record (OTC-EHR) may help improve OTC usage. An online survey for the conceptual OTC-EHR design examined participant characteristics, attitudes towards obtaining user-shared OTC medication information, health-related application usage, and the inclination to share anonymized health information. Descriptive statistics, tests to assess statistical significance, and text mining were used to analyze the results. The findings revealed that Japanese consumers, particularly those with high eHealth literacy and women, possess relatively positive attitudes towards obtaining user-shared OTC medication information than those with low eHealth literacy (t (280.71) = -4.11, p < 0.001) and men (t (262.26) = -2.78, p = 0.006), respectively. Most consumers own smartphones but do not use health-related applications. A minority held positive attitudes about sharing anonymized health information. The perceived helpfulness of OTC-EHR was positively associated with the usage of health-related applications (χ2 (4) = 18.35, p = 0.001) and attitude towards sharing anonymized health information (χ2 (3) = 19.78, p < 0.001). The study findings contribute towards OTC-EHR's design to enhance consumers' self-medication and reduce risks, while the psychological barriers to sharing anonymized health information should be improved by increasing the OTC-EHR's penetration rate and engaging in appropriate information design.

The community proactive health management model based on the grounded theory: The case of Beijing, China.

The 2019 coronavirus disease pandemic has been a governance challenge for countries and cities worldwide. In China, the community-based joint prevention and control governance mechanism is one of the highlights of the "Chinese experience" in fighting the pandemic. As aging accelerates, communities can take on more functions in managing the health of their residents. Especially in the post-pandemic era, the actual needs of community residents in terms of health, medical care, and elderly care need to be addressed. This paper uses a questionnaire to understand the current situation of community health management in Beijing, followed by the selection of four typical communities for in-depth interviews, and uses the triple process of open coding, selective coding, and theoretical coding of the grounded theory to analyze residents' needs and willingness for proactive health management. More than 80 concepts, 41 categories, and 6 master categories were obtained from 204 initial statements. The "logical line" of the relationship between the main categories was constructed, and we developed a conceptual model of community-based proactive health management, consisting of six dimensions: (1) perception and willingness, (2) primary population, (3) health behavior paradigm, (4) management mechanism, (5) information technology applications, and (6) facilities and services. The study aims to contribute to the community-based health management in China and for the international community and provide strategies to improve community-based health management.

Challenges for maintaining surgical care practices in the COVID-19 pandemic: an integrative review.

OBJECTIVES: To present the knowledge produced on challenges of health services for maintaining surgical care practices in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: This is an integrative literature review, performed with descriptors 'Operating rooms' and 'Coronavirus Infections' in the MEDLINE/PubMed Central, IBECS, LILACS, BDENF, Coleta SUS, BIGG, BINACIS, SciELO, PubMed, Science Direct, and Cochrane Library databases. RESULTS: Of the 405 studies analyzed, 27 met the inclusion criteria. The main challenges for surgical services during the pandemic were: (i) rearrangement of general practice in surgical units; (ii) administration and management of resources and elective surgeries; (iii) follow-up and control of preoperative patients to medium term; (iv) maintenance of patients' and health professionals' autonomy and mental health in this context; and (v) teaching health residents in the operating room. CONCLUSIONS: For surgical care services, the challenges caused by managing the high demand of patients in need of care resulted in the transfer of own resources to other units and the consequent hiring of professionals to meet the demand for these services due to the damming of postponed elective surgeries. This knowledge will allow us to propose strategies in decision making in this scenario, considering the new waves that may arise from this disease.

Analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on the organization of liver transplantation

The Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), causing severe acute respiratory syndrome, is the source of the global pandemic known as Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19). The comorbidities, such as diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disorders such hypertension, kidney disease, lung disease, and age, affect COVID-19 effects severity (1-3). This new disease has changed surgery practice in most countries around the world. (4) In order to maintain social distance, surgery departments may take a variety of steps, such as canceling face-To-face outpatient and nonurgent appointments, screening scheduled clinic visits, conducting telephone consultations with patients who have nonurgent conditions, and rescheduling appointments for a few months. (5) The focus of this work is to analyze the activity of the Department of liver transplant surgery in "A.O.R.N. Antonio Cardarelli"of Naples (Italy) was analyzed. In particular, the data-set obtained in the year 2019 (pre-pandemic) was compared with that in the following year 2020 (pandemic). The data refers to patients undergoing liver transplantation. © 2022 ACM.

An Evaluation of Smartwatch Contribution in Improving Human Health

Everyone understands the necessity of health management, especially in light of the COVID-19 viral infection. How to care for and manage health has emerged as the main topic of conversation, whether it concerns the elderly, adults, patients, or children. There are numerous ways to maintain one's health, and smartwatches are good at doing this because their owners can monitor their health constantly. The idea behind a smartwatch is to utilise its green light to measure the wearer's blood pressure before gathering information about their health. Because smartwatches can constantly detect and analyse users' daily health information. Users or guardians can use this information to take care of their bodies;therefore, they are an excellent choice for many people with dementia, depression, high-stress conditions, and athletes who need to monitor their physical fitness. This article analyses in depth the value of smartwatches, their applications for managing people's health, and their benefits and drawbacks. © 2023 IEEE.

Role of leadership and local culture in COVID-19 control in Bali Province, Indonesia

The increase in positive cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia since 2020 has led to various control measures, including prevention. One of them is through cultural approach and local wisdom that differs from one region to another, such as the one applied in Bali Province. The purpose of the study was to explore Bali's experience in dealing with COVID-19 from the perspective of culture and local wisdom. A qualitative approach was used in this study using in-depth interviews with the Bali Provincial Disaster Control Office (Badan Penanggulangan Bencana Daerah, BPBD) and the Bali Provincial Health Office. Results of this study showed that the Bali Province has a strong religious approach, consisting of hupokara, which is the faith in the Creator as disaster is believed to be a tremendous force that has to be managed through a ceremony called niskala, which giving offerings to God for health and safety of the people of Bali Province. The Balinese believe that the COVID-19 virus can be controlled with rituals and offerings. The presence of Pecalang as a traditional security unit looked up to and obeyed by the Balinese people also supports the successful management of COVID-19. The unique approach of Bali Province that is based on the local wisdom through mobilizing Traditional Villages, promoting custom-based cooperation through the formation of a task force at the Traditional Village level, and with good leadership from the Governor of Bali has led to successful COVID-19 control in Bali Province. Bali has learned from the COVID-19 pandemic that togetherness and mutual cooperation among people are needed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the province.

Health, prevention, and practices among South Asian American women in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Per 2020 U.S. Census data, Asian Americans make up almost 6% of the total U.S. population, with about 22 million individuals identifying as Asian American. Approximately 21% of the overall Asian Americans identify specifically as Indian American (Budiman & Ruiz, 2021;Jones et al., 2021). The research need for this population exists due to their increased U.S. presence. Specifically, there is limited research on the health behavior and healthcare choices of South Asian American women. Given the high prevalence of diseases including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and hypertension in this population, this is an important area of research. This study examined the influence of Western and South Asian health practices, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, on South Asian American women's health management. Semi-structured virtual interviews were conducted with eight women, ages 22-35 years, who self-identified as second-generation South Asian Americans. The interview data collected were qualitatively analyzed using Grounded Theory to identify themes related to health and prevention, external influences on health, mental health, and COVID-19 pandemic response. The results indicated that all participants reported the influence of both Western and South Asian background on health, well-being, and practices. Some participants expressed feelings of cynicism with Western medicine whereas others discussed feelings of acceptance. Participants discussed the importance of taking care of one's mental health, and how increased discussion of mental health, prompted by the pandemic, has changed people's perception and stigma surrounding mental healthcare. Future research may address more generalizable results, using more expansive sample sizes, and examine gender differences in healthcare decisions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)