Managing disruptions in the maritime industry – a systematic literature review

PurposeThis paper presents a systematic review of the literature in the domain of maritime disruption management, upon which future research framework and agenda are proposed. Two review questions, i.e. the measures that are employed to manage disruptions and how these contribute to resilience performance, were pursued.Design/methodology/approachThe systematic literature review procedure was strictly followed, including identification and planning, execution, selection and synthesis and analysis. A review protocol was developed, including scope, databases and criteria guiding the review. Following this, 47 articles were eventually extracted for the systematic review to identify themes for not only addressing the review questions but also highlighting future research opportunities.FindingsIt was found that earlier studies mainly focused on measures, which are designed using mathematical models, management frameworks and other technical support systems, to analyse and evaluate risks, and their impacts on maritime players at the levels of organisation, transport system and region in which the organisation is embedded. There is, however, a lack of research that empirically examines how these measures would contribute to enhancing the resilience performance of maritime firms and their organisational performance as a whole. Subsequently, a Digitally Embedded and Technically Support Maritime Disruption Management (DEST-MDM) model is proposed.Research limitations/implicationsThis review is constrained by studies recorded by the Web of Science only. Nevertheless, the proposed research model would expectedly contribute to enhancing knowledge building in the specific domain of maritime disruption management and supply chain management overall while providing meaningful managerial implications to policymakers and managers in the maritime industry.Originality/valueThis research is perhaps one of the first studies which presents a systematic review of literature in maritime disruption management and proposes a future research framework that establishes the link between disruption management and resilience and organisational performance for empirical validation.

Cross Infection Control Awareness During 5th Wave of Covid 19 Pandemic, Omicron Variant Amongst the Dental Health Care Professionals of Government Sector University in Karachi, Pakistan

Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate the awareness of cross-infection control measures followed by DHCPs during the 5th wave of Covid-19 pandemic, Omicron variant in a government sector university of Karachi, Pakistan. Method(s): A Cross-sectional study was conducted from June till September 2022 at Sindh Institute of Oral Health Science during the 5th wave of Covid 19 pandemic, Omicron variant. Data was collected from 153 DHCPs from government sector university using a self-administered questionnaire, comprising of 20 closed ended question to assess the awareness and practice of cross infection protocols by DHCPs. Result(s): 98.7% of the participants were vaccinated against Covid 19. 96% of the participants used surgical gowns, face shields, and face masks as part of PPE during examining patients and while performing procedure. After treatment 99.3% of participants washed hands with hand wash, soap or used antiseptic solution. 77.1% of participants asked for Covid 19 test report and 68.6% of participants asked for proof of vaccination against covid 19 before treating patients. 96.1% of participants recommended disinfection of dental unit after every patient. 98% of participants changed glove after every patient. 88.2% of the participants said they would carry all elective and emergency procedures. Conclusion(s): The results of this study show that DHCPs practicing at government sector university have adequate knowledge regarding prevention of cross infection protocols and their importance to limit spread of infections. But their practice of prevention of cross infection during Covid 19 pandemic is not ideal as percentage of DHCPs requiring proof of vaccination or negative reports for Covid 19 were rather low and the percentage of DHCPs willing to carry elective procedures along with emergency ones was rather high.Copyright © 2023 Lahore Medical And Dental College. All rights reserved.

COVID-19 and The Surgical Neonate

COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021 affected millions of people including children. Though uncommon, there are few reports of COVID in neonates also. COVID is primarily managed by pediatricians;however, they are involved when providing anesthesia to these neonates for surgery. The role of anesthetists, besides during surgery, has proven to be vital in COVID pandemic for their expertise in airway and ventilatory management, also putting them to the highest risk of exposure. Various testing methods are available, and TrueNAT and RTPCR have emerged as most reliable. Most neonates remain asymptomatic or have mild symptoms;however, RTPCR testing should be done in all at least 72 h of preoperative. Utmost care should be taken during the preoperative evaluation, and in the perioperative period, goal is to prevent transmission of COVID to noninfected HCW involved in the perioperative period, to other newborns and neonates, and also to avoid increasing the severity of the diseases in the positive neonates, while keeping in mind the vulnerability of these babies in combination with their surgical disease and the changing neonatal physiology. COVID care protocols should be followed at all times. Anesthetic considerations remain the same as described in other chapters in the book, in newborns and neonates, both term and preterm. All OT personnel need to don the PPE, which can be problematic especially for the anesthetist, as it restricts the normal unhindered movements, use of stethoscope for chest auscultation for heart rate, respiration, and ETT positioning. Hence, one needs to be very meticulous in IV line and ET placement and their securing to prevent accidental dislodging during positioning and under the drapes. All disposable and non-disposable equipment used for the covid positive baby, should be adequately treated or discarded, as the case may be, after each surgery. Only emergency surgery should be undertaken in COVID-positive neonates to prevent high postoperative morbidity and mortality. There is not much data available in neonates, and most guidelines have been introduced for children and adolescents. Neonatal care has emerged from the experience of the anesthesiologist and from extrapolation of the available pediatric guidelines. Here, we will be discussing COVID in neonates and anesthetic management in COVID-positive neonates undergoing surgery. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023.

Mobile Intellectual Property Marketplace Model for Commercialization of Intellectual Property Rights

This study discusses the development of the intellectual property (IP) marketplace model based on mobile location-aware computing. Referring to statistics released by the Directorate General of Intellectual Property, there has been a growth in the number of intellectual property rights (IPR) applications in recent years, even during the Covid-19 pandemic. On the other hand, after IPR protection, the commercialization of IPR is one of the pillars of the IP system. Nevertheless, research institutions such as LIPI/BRIN indicate that the potential for commercializing IPR is still low. Furthermore, the opportunity is that cellular networks have covered almost all parts of Indonesia, and there has been significant growth in smartphone users. The method utilized in this research is prototyping. This research results from an IP marketplace model based on mobile location-aware computing in Indonesia. Using the smartphone user's location, contextual IPR information from the user's location related to IPR will enter their smartphone. The experimental results indicate that the application can display a list of IPR information according to the smartphone user's location. Furthermore, the search feature can forage IPR listing information based on user queries. © 2022 IEEE.

Confinement with No Rights. Perceptions of Inmates' Relatives Regarding Measures for COVID-19 Control Implemented in Mexican Prisons

Based on a participatory study design, this article describes how a group of family members of people deprived of liberty (PDL) experienced the COVID-19 control measures implemented in Mexico's prisons. We conducted 28 in-depth interviews and analyzed them using ATLAS.ti. We found that the measures implemented in Mexican prisons to avoid the spread of COVID-19 focused mainly on suspension of visitation and PDL confinement. The isolation imposed on PDL impacted their living conditions, making them more vulnerable to contracting COVID-19 due to lack of access to essential services, food, and hygiene supplies. Visit restrictions and PDL isolation also impacted PDL relatives' health and socioeconomic conditions. Our findings indicate that the consequences of COVID-19 control actions in Mexican prisons differ according to the gender and jurisdiction of PDL. Women in federal prisons were more isolated, while those in local ones were more deprived of basic supplies. Imprisoned women's isolation has especially severe effects on the mental and physical health of their elderly parents and children. The results show how the measures adopted to control COVID-19 outbreaks in Mexican prisons have exacerbated the preexisting systemic violence experienced by PDL and their families and how they have failed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in these settings. These findings provide support for the health-informed penal reform of Mexican prisons.

The Verification & Validation of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Surface Mission Operations System

Leading up to its landing on Mars on February 18, 2021, the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover Surface Mission Operations System (MOS) underwent a verification and validation (V&V) campaign consisting of a series of Super Thread Tests and Operational Readiness Tests. This V&V campaign emphasized incremental testing, mission scenario and capability coverage, and the Test-As-You-Fly approach wherever possible. Although the elements that comprise the Surface System underwent their own internal V&V campaigns, the system-level tests were vital in uncovering findings observable only through the integrated and flight-like nature of these Surface Mission Operations System V & V tests. The COVID-19 pandemic posed additional challenges, including limited facility access, constrained in-person activities, changes to operations paradigms, and evolving safety protocols in the midst of the testing campaign and preparation for surface operations. This paper describes the Verification and Validation campaign of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Surface Mission Operations System that led to the readiness for rover operations on Mars. © 2023 IEEE.

A Comparative Analysis of IoT Protocols for Resource Constraint Devices and Networks

Communication standards and protocols are detrimental to the success of any Internet of Things (IoT) system or application. Selecting a communication standard and a suitable middleware or messaging protocol for IoT connectivity is challenging due to the heterogeneous resource-constrained IoT devices and their messaging requirements. Recently, several messaging/middleware protocols in the IoT field were developed and adopted in the industry. However, to date, there is no specific messaging protocol that can support all messaging use cases and fulfil the overall requirements of IoT systems. Therefore, it is critical to understand the application layer messaging and communication protocols of IoT systems to identify the most appropriate protocol that could fit and be applied in various contexts. This paper provides a comparative analysis of the MQTT, CoAP, and AMQP messaging protocols including their security. © 2022 ACM.

Rapid protocols to support COVID-19 clinical diagnosis based on hematological parameters

Purpose: In December 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic began in the world. To reduce mortality, in addiction to mass vaccination, it is necessary to massify and accelerate clinical diagnosis, as well as creating new ways of monitoring patients that can help in the construction of specific treatments for the disease. Objective: In this work, we propose rapid protocols for clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 through the automatic analysis of hematological parameters using evolutionary computing and machine learning. These hematological parameters are obtained from blood tests common in clinical practice. Method: We investigated the best classifier architectures. Then, we applied the particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO) to select the most relevant attributes: serum glucose, troponin, partial thromboplastin time, ferritin, D-dimer, lactic dehydrogenase, and indirect bilirubin. Then, we assessed again the best classifier architectures, but now using the reduced set of features. Finally, we used decision trees to build four rapid protocols for Covid-19 clinical diagnosis by assessing the impact of each selected feature. The proposed system was used to support clinical diagnosis and assessment of disease severity in patients admitted to intensive and semi-intensive care units as a case study in the city of Paudalho, Brazil. Results: We developed a web system for Covid-19 diagnosis support. Using a 100-tree random forest, we obtained results for accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity superior to 99%. After feature selection, results were similar. The four empirical clinical protocols returned accuracies, sensitivities and specificities superior to 98%. Conclusion: By using a reduced set of hematological parameters common in clinical practice, it was possible to achieve results of accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity comparable to those obtained with RT-PCR. It was also possible to automatically generate clinical decision protocols, allowing relatively accurate clinical diagnosis even without the aid of the web decision support system. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to The Brazilian Society of Biomedical Engineering.

Očekávání žen ohledně porodu a vnímaný vliv protokolů COVID-19 na porod

Cíl: Studie hodnotila očekávání žen ohledně porodu a vnímané účinky protokolů COVID-19 na porod ve vybraných zdravotnických zařízeních v Umuahia, Abia, Nigérie. Metodika: Byla použita průřezová deskriptivní výzkumná metoda. Do studie bylo v období od března do prosince 2020 cíleně vybráno tři sta čtyři (304) žen z vybraných zdravotnických zařízení v Umuahii. Jako nástroj pro sběr dat byl použit validovaný dotazník vyvinutý výzkumnými pracovníky. Získaná data byla podrobena deskriptivní statistice četností, průměrů a směrodatných odchylek. Výsledky: Hlavní zjištění ukázala, že vysoce hodnocená očekávání žen během porodu byla zapojení žen do rozhodování o péči (3,69 ± 3,20), poskytování adekvátních informací o péči o miminko (3,65 ± 3,17) a pozitivní přístup poskytovatelů zdravotní péče (3,59 ± 3,11). Větší počet účastníků plně souhlasil s tím, že lockdown během pandemie vedl k vážným porodním závěrům (3,25 ± 2,98);a zpoždění při dodržování protokolů COVID-19 kvalifikovaným personálem během porodu představuje velkou hrozbu pro matku a dítě (3,58 ± 3,12). Na druhou stranu pozorování sociálního distancování porodními asistentkami (1,57 ± 1,28) a testování žen na covid-19 před přijetím (1,96 ± 1,58) nemělo na porod žádný negativní vliv. Závěr: Zapojení žen do rozhodování o jejich porodních plánech a péči představuje očekávání žen od jejich porodu. Poskytovatelé zdravotní péče musí těmto očekáváním plně porozumět a poskytovat péči, která je s nimi v souladu. Je také nezbytné, aby informace poskytované ženám v prenatálním období, zejména v době pandemie, byly komplexní a srozumitelné. To by mělo být použito k otevřené komunikaci o problémech, které mohou ovlivnit jejich porodní zkušenost, zejména během pandemie.Alternate :Aim: The study assessed women's childbirth expectations and perceived effects of COVID-19 protocols on delivery in selected healthcare facilities in Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria. Methods: The study adopted a cross-sectional descriptive survey research design. 304 women were purposively recruited from March through December 2020 from selected healthcare facilities in Umuahia. A validated researcher-developed questionnaire was used as instrument for data collection. Data obtained were subjected to descriptive statistics of frequencies, means, and standard deviations. Results: Major findings showed highly rated expectations of women during childbirth were women's involvement in decision making about their care (3.69 ± 3.20), provision of adequate information on baby care (3.65 ± 3.17), and positive attitude of healthcare providers (3.59 ± 3.11). A greater number of the participants strongly agreed that COVID-19 lockdown led to severe labor outcomes (3.25 ± 2.98) and delays in observing COVID-19 protocols by skilled personnel during delivery pose a great threat to mother and baby (3.58 ± 3.12). On the other hand, observation of social distancing by midwives (1.57 ± 1.28) and testing women for COVID-19 before admission (1.96 ± 1.58) did not have any negative effect on the women's delivery. Conclusions: Women's involvement in decision making concerning their birth plans and care are among the women's expectations for their birth. Healthcare providers need to fully understand these expectations and provide care that is consistent with them. It is also essential that information provided to antenatal women, especially during pandemics, is comprehensive and comprehensible. This should be used to openly communicate issues that may impact their birth experience, particularly in pandemics.

Corona Larona: A 2.5D Mobile Game Advocating COVID-19 Safety Protocols and Mitigation Strategies

Governments and health agencies around the world have been at the forefront of managing the COVID-19 pandemic. To control the spread of the outbreak, mandatory safety protocols have been put into effect. Despite the continuous development and strict enforcement of these preventive guidelines, non-compliance with these mandatory safety protocols has been reported. Getting the message to the public is one of the key challenges in convincing people to follow mitigation policies. In this study, we employed the media of video games to advocate for COVID-19 safety protocols. We developed a video game called "Corona Larona"that features microgames with action gameplay playable on a mobile platform. Our video game concentrated on several preventive measures such as physical distancing, hand washing, wearing face masks as well as basic knowledge about the virus using in-game multiple choice questions. To our knowledge, this is the first video game dedicated to the COVID-19 outbreak and the mandatory safety protocols. In a time when many people play video games to survive their current situation, the Corona Larona game is a strategic example of using and maximizing this form of media for a more noble purpose. © 2022 IEEE.

Development of an acquisition system to monitoring asynchronous tele-ultrasound for lung patients

Lung ultrasound imaging allows the detection and evaluation of the lung damage generated by COVID-19. However, several infrastructure and logistical limitations prevent them from being carried out in isolated and remote areas. In this work, a system for the acquisition of medical images through asynchronous tele-ultrasounds was developed. The system is based on a graphical user interface, which records the three video cameras, the ultrasound image and the accelerometer simultaneously. The interface was developed according to the Volume Sweep Imaging acquisition protocol. The translational and rotational movement of the transducer are tracked and monitored by the accelerometer and the position of the transducer is obtained from the images acquired by the three video cameras. The results show a correct functioning of the system overall, being viable to be implemented for data acquisition and calculation of error, although in order to validate the error calculation there is still more research to be done. © 2023 SPIE.

Artificial Intelligence driven security model for Internet of Medical Things (IoMT)

The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) has been applied to provide health care facilities for elders and parents. Remote health care is essential for providing scarce resources and facilities to coronavirus patients. Ongoing IoMT communication is susceptible to potential security attacks. In this research, an artificial intelligence-driven security model of the IoMT is also proposed to simulate and analyses the results. Under the proposed plan, only authorized users will be able to access private and sensitive patient information, and unauthorized users will be unable to access a secure healthcare network. The various phases for implementing artificial intelligence (AI) techniques in the IoMT system have been discussed. AI-driven IoMT is implemented using decision trees, logistic regression, support vector machines (SVM), and k-nearest neighbours (KNN) techniques. The KNN learning models are recommended for IoMT applications due to their low consumption time with high accuracy and effective prediction. © 2023 IEEE.

Paper and screen media in current health education practices aimed at older adults: a scoping review protocol.

INTRODUCTION: With technological advancement and the COVID-19 pandemic, paper-based media are giving way to screen-based media to promote healthy ageing. However, there is no review available covering paper and screen media use by older people, so the objective of this review is to map the current use of paper-based and/or screen-based media for health education aimed at older people. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The literature will be searched in Scopus, Web of Science, Medline, Embase, Cinahl, The ACM Guide to Computing Literature and Psyinfo databases. Studies in English, Portuguese, Italian or Spanish published from 2012 to the date of the search will be examined. In addition, an additional strategy will be carried out, which will be a Google Scholar search, in which the first 300 studies according to Google's relevance algorithm will be verified. The terms used in the search strategy will be focused on older adults, health education, paper-based and screen-based media, preferences, intervention and other related terms. This review will include studies where the average age of the participants was 60 years or older and were users of health education strategies through paper-based or screen-based media. Two reviewers will carry out the selection of studies in five steps: identification of studies and removal of duplicates, pilot test, selection by reading titles and abstracts, full-text inclusion and search for additional sources. A third reviewer will resolve disagreements. To record information from the included studies, a data extraction form will be used. The quantitative data will be presented in a descriptive way and the qualitative data through Bardin's content analysis. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval is not applicable to the scoping review. The results will be disseminated through presentations at significant scientific events and published in journals in the area. PROTOCOL REGISTRATION NUMBER: Open science framework (DOI: DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/GKEAH).

JBI systematic review protocol of text/opinions on how to best collect race-based data in healthcare contexts.

INTRODUCTION: Racialized population groups have worse health outcomes across the world compared with non-racialized populations. Evidence suggests that collecting race-based data should be done to mitigate racism as a barrier to health equity, and to amplify community voices, promote transparency, accountability, and shared governance of data. However, limited evidence exists on the best ways to collect race-based data in healthcare contexts. This systematic review aims to synthesize opinions and texts on the best practices for collecting race-based data in healthcare contexts. METHODS AND ANALYSES: We will use the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) method for synthesizing text and opinions. JBI is a global leader in evidence-based healthcare and provides guidelines for systematic reviews. The search strategy will locate both published and unpublished papers in English in CINAHL, Medline, PsycINFO, Scopus and Web of Science from 1 January 2013 to 1 January 2023, as well as unpublished studies and grey literature of relevant government and research websites using Google and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement methodology for systematic reviews of text and opinion will be applied, including screening and appraisal of the evidence by two independent reviewers and data extraction using JBI's Narrative, Opinion, Text, Assessment, Review Instrument. This JBI systematic review of opinion and text will address gaps in knowledge about the best ways to collect race-based data in healthcare. Improvements in race-based data collection, may be related to structural policies that address racism in healthcare. Community participation may also be used to increase knowledge about collecting race-based data. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The systematic review does not involve human subjects. Findings will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed publication in JBI evidence synthesis, conferences and media. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42022368270.

A global federated real-world data and analytics platform for research.

Objective: This article describes a scalable, performant, sustainable global network of electronic health record data for biomedical and clinical research. Materials and Methods: TriNetX has created a technology platform characterized by a conservative security and governance model that facilitates collaboration and cooperation between industry participants, such as pharmaceutical companies and contract research organizations, and academic and community-based healthcare organizations (HCOs). HCOs participate on the network in return for access to a suite of analytics capabilities, large networks of de-identified data, and more sponsored trial opportunities. Industry participants provide the financial resources to support, expand, and improve the technology platform in return for access to network data, which provides increased efficiencies in clinical trial design and deployment. Results: TriNetX is a growing global network, expanding from 55 HCOs and 7 countries in 2017 to over 220 HCOs and 30 countries in 2022. Over 19 000 sponsored clinical trial opportunities have been initiated through the TriNetX network. There have been over 350 peer-reviewed scientific publications based on the network's data. Conclusions: The continued growth of the TriNetX network and its yield of clinical trial collaborations and published studies indicates that this academic-industry structure is a safe, proven, sustainable path for building and maintaining research-centric data networks.

Revisiting the policy implications of COVID-19, asylum seekers, and migrants on the Mexico–U.S. border: Creating (and maintaining) states of exception in the Trump and Biden administrations

Public policy choices continue to bring dramatic changes to migration practices in the era of the coronavirus in the United States. In this article, we argue that the COVID-19 pandemic facilitated the creation and maintenance of states of exception while continuing to destabilize practices at the Mexico–U.S. border through the politics of fear. Specifically, the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), Zero Tolerance Policy (ZTP), COVID-19 CAPIO, Asylum Cooperative Agreements (ACA), and Title 42 used an arcane section of U.S. law to immediately expel asylum seekers and refugees. We show that these policies highlight the formation and maintenance of states of exception consistent with the work of Agamben. We further discuss how the politics of fear can reinforce hegemonic narratives targeting asylum seekers while shaping political agendas that lean toward a specific brand of nationalism using public health as a context. The U.S. government under the Trump administration—and the Biden administration to a lesser, yet continuous, extent—constructed these policies aimed primarily at refugees and asylum seekers from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico thereby violating laws and international treaty obligations. Related Articles: Duman, Yoav H. 2014. "Reducing the Fog? Immigrant Regularization and the State.” Politics & Policy 42(2): 187–220. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12065. Garrett, Terence Michael. 2020. "The Security Apparatus, Federal Magistrate Courts, and Detention Centers as Simulacra: The Effects of Trump's Zero Tolerance Policy on Migrants and Refugees in the Rio Grande Valley.” Politics & Policy 48(2): 372–95. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12348. Maggio, James. 2007. "The Presidential Rhetoric of Terror: The (Re)Creation of Reality Immediately after 9/11.” Politics & Policy 35(4): 819–35. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2007.00085.x. © 2023 Policy Studies Organization.

A Secure and Efficient Scheme for Mutual Authentication for Integrity of Exchanged Data in IoMT

The emergence of pandemic diseases like Covid-19 in recent years has made it more important for Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) environments to build contact between patients and doctors in order to control their health state. Patients will be able to send their healthcare data to the cloud server of the medical service provider in remote medical environments through sensors connected to their smart devices, such as watches or smartphones. However, patients' worries surrounding their data privacy protection are still present. In order to ensure the security and privacy of patients' healthcare data in remote medical environments, a number of different schemes have been proposed by researchers. However, these schemes have not been able to take all security requirements into account. Consequently, in this study, we have proposed a secure and effective protocol to safeguard the privacy of patients' medical data when it is sent to the server. This protocol entails two components: mutual authentication of the patient and the server of the medical service provider, as well as the integrity of the exchanged data. Also, our scheme satisfies security requirements and is resistant to well-known attacks. Following this, we used the Scyther tool to formally analyze our proposed scheme. The results showed that the scheme is secure, and in the section on performance analysis, we demonstrated that the proposed scheme performs better than comparable schemes. © 2023 IEEE.

Video Conferencing using WebRTC

Video conferencing has become an essential tool for communication and collaboration in today's world, especially after the recent COVID-19 pandemic. One of the most popular technologies for video conferencing is WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication), which allows for real-time, peer-to-peer communication directly through web browsers. This study reviews the current state of video conferencing software using WebRTC. In particular, the research study will survey the features and capabilities of popular software solutions and explore the architecture of WebRTC and the protocols used for data transmission in video conferencing software. Additionally, the challenges and limitations of video conferencing for group discussion practice, including technical difficulties, connectivity issues, and privacy concerns are examined. Finally, this study provides recommendations for future research in this field, with the goal of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of video conferencing using WebRTC technology. © 2023 IEEE.

Barriers to, and facilitators of, eHealth utilisation by parents of high-risk newborn infants in the NICU: a scoping review protocol.

INTRODUCTION: Parental presence in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) has been demonstrated to enhance infant growth and development, reduce parental anxiety and stress and strengthen parent-infant bonding. Since eHealth technology emerged, research on its utilisation in NICUs has risen substantially. There is some evidence that incorporating such technologies in the NICU can reduce parental stress and enhance parent confidence in caring for their infant.Several countries, including China, restrict parental attendance in NICUs, citing infection control challenges, issues of privacy and confidentiality and perceived additional workload for healthcare professionals. Due to COVID-19 pandemic-related shortages of personal protective equipment and uncertain mode of transmission, many NICUs around the world closed to parental visiting and engagement in neonatal care.There is anecdotal evidence that, given pandemic-related restrictions, eHealth technologies, have increasingly been used in NICUs as a potential substitute for in-person parental presence.However, the constraints and enablers of technologies in these situations have not been exhaustively examined. This scoping review aims to update the literature on eHealth technology utilisation in the NICU and to explore the literature on the challenges and facilitators of eHealth technology implementation to inform future research. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The five-stage Arksey and O'Malley methodological framework and the Joanna Briggs Institute scoping review methodology will serve as the foundation for this scoping review. Eight databases will be searched for the relevant literature published between January 2000 and August 2022 in either English or Chinese. Grey literature will be manually searched. Data extraction and eligibility screening will be carried out by two impartial reviewers. There will be periods of both quantitative and qualitative analysis. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Since all data and information will be taken from publicly accessible literature, ethical approval would not be necessary. A peer-reviewed publication will be published with the results of this scoping review. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: This scoping review protocol was registered in Open Science Framework and can be found here: https://osf.io/AQV5P/.

Observational study of organisational responses of 17 US hospitals over the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVES: The COVID-19 pandemic has required significant modifications of hospital care. The objective of this study was to examine the operational approaches taken by US hospitals over time in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: This was a prospective observational study of 17 geographically diverse US hospitals from February 2020 to February 2021. OUTCOMES AND ANALYSIS: We identified 42 potential pandemic-related strategies and obtained week-to-week data about their use. We calculated descriptive statistics for use of each strategy and plotted percent uptake and weeks used. We assessed the relationship between strategy use and hospital type, geographic region and phase of the pandemic using generalised estimating equations (GEEs), adjusting for weekly county case counts. RESULTS: We found heterogeneity in strategy uptake over time, some of which was associated with geographic region and phase of pandemic. We identified a body of strategies that were both commonly used and sustained over time, for example, limiting staff in COVID-19 rooms and increasing telehealth capacity, as well as those that were rarely used and/or not sustained, for example, increasing hospital bed capacity. CONCLUSIONS: Hospital strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic varied in resource intensity, uptake and duration of use. Such information may be valuable to health systems during the ongoing pandemic and future ones.