ABSTRACT
Emergency department (ED) visits for conditions unrelated to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic decreased during the early pandemic, raising concerns about critically ill patients forgoing care and increasing their risk of adverse outcomes. It is unclear if Hispanic and Black adults, who have a high prevalence of chronic conditions, sought medical assistance for acute emergencies during this time. This study used 2018-2020 ED visit data from the largest safety net hospital in Los Angeles County to estimate ED visit differences for cardiac emergencies, diabetic complications, and strokes, during the first societal lockdown among Black and Hispanic patients using time series analyses. Emergency department visits were lower than the expected levels during the first societal lockdown. However, after the lockdown ended, Black patients experienced a rebound in ED visits while visits for Hispanics remained depressed. Future research could identify barriers Hispanics experienced that contributed to prolonged ED avoidance.
ABSTRACT
The usage of drone technology has increased in a vast range of disciplines, including medical services. Drones can aerially deliver medical supplies and laboratory test samples during health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic. It can also be used as a delivery device for an automated external defibrillator which might significantly increase the survival chances of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest victims. Significant cost savings compared with ground transportation and speed of delivery will probably drive drone implementation in various areas in the next few years. © 2022, Association of American Publishers. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND Ambulatory Emergency Care is a novel healthcare paradigm that has not yet been adopted locally. The aim of this study was to determine how many patients admitted to medical wards in Mater Dei Hospital between January 2020 and December 2020 could have been managed in an ambulatory setting. METHODS We determined which patients had a length of stay of less than 24 hours as well as calculated the Amb score for each patient, postulating these two criteria as effective markers of patients that could be selected for ambulatory management. With the unfolding of the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic, data collection stopped in March 2020. A total of 54 patients were randomly sampled from post-take medical ward rounds and data pertaining to their medical admission was recorded. RESULTS 20.37% of patients had a length of stay of less than 24 hours whilst 44.4% of patients had an Amb score of 5 or more. 18.5% of patients were found to have an Amb score of 5 or more AND a length of stay of less than 24 hours. A moderate negative correlation (rs = -0.66) between a high Amb Score and a short length of stay was demonstrated. Lower respiratory tract infection and Chest pain were the two commonest provisional diagnoses making up 37.0% of all admissions. Conclusions One in every 4.6 patients could benefit from ambulatory emergency management. We hypothesize that such a service would help reduce pressures on the current local healthcare system, improving emergency department throughput and patient satisfaction. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Malta Medical Journal is the property of University of Malta, Faculty of Medicine & Surgery 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.)
ABSTRACT
This paper explores the relationship between epidemics and International Disaster Law. In particular the paper addresses some selective examples of legal and operational issues pertaining to International Disaster Law where the increasing concern on health emergencies, dated back to the Ebola crisis, have progressively facilitated the management of tailored initiatives. In particular, in relation to prevention and preparedness, challenges experienced to include biological hazards in universal disaster risk reduction frameworks will be introduced, as well as the dedicated attention to preparedness for epidemics progressively experienced in international coordination disaster management systems. In relation to post-hazard phases, some initiatives aimed at facilitating international relief operations in front of epidemics will be explored, as complemented by international financial instruments factoring epidemics in assistance programs. This overview might thus permit to assess some trends in this area, paving the way for potential further reforms eventually based on developments already introduced in the framework of the COVID-19 pandemic. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of International Community Law Review is the property of Brill Academic Publishers 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.)
ABSTRACT
Despite the pandemic's widespread and transnational impact on human rights, both solidarity and human rights have been side-lined in key intergovernmental discussions on global health law reform to date, while conversations about the development of international human rights law seldom consider global health law's import to the field. This article argues that in spite of states' apparent reluctance to reconcile and harmonise global health law and international human rights law for fairer and more effective public health emergency preparedness and response, international law experts and practitioners are well-placed to indirectly influence normative development in this direction, drawing on their past successes in clarifying and elaborating upon informal international legal standards. Merging strengths from existing legal frameworks of global health law and international human rights law, such expert standard setting efforts can help reimagine a "progressively harmonised" framework of legal regimes for public health emergency preparedness and response. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of International Community Law Review is the property of Brill Academic Publishers 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.)
ABSTRACT
The effect of pandemic COVID-19 outbreak has become a big matter of concern in the world. Healthcare industry demands for new technologies to fight against the pandemic. Fog-assisted IoT-enabled technology (Fog-IoT) is the alternative to cloud technology, which has potential strength to fulfill the requirements of patients as well as healthcare organization. In this paper, we explore and review the fog computing technology to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. Fog computing technology provides resources to IoT at proximity of network. This integrated technology is useful for dynamic monitoring of patients and provides rapid diagnosis to high risk patients. In healthcare industry, the delay sensitive patient information should be accessed in a fraction of seconds. So, fog computing could be a better solution for providing response intensive IoT application for medical emergencies. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: COVID-19 pandemic effects are still being elucidated. Stay-at-home orders and social distancing compounded with COVID-19 concerns have caused significant disruptions in daily life. One notable effect of these variables may be a change in the number of emergency department (ED) visits. This study aims to investigate the effects of COVID-19 on ED visits, and possible reasons for changes. METHODS: Retrospective analysis using CDC data for ED visits and percentage of visits for COVID-19-Like Illness (CLI) and Influenza-Like Illness (ILI). Google Trends was used to assess COVID-19 public awareness. Motor vehicle collision (MVC) data was collected from cities, which reported current data. A descriptive statistical analysis and two-sample t-test was performed on ED visit data to assess for significance and a descriptive analysis was conducted to assess COVID-19's impact on MVCs. RESULTS: The mean number of ED visits per week for the last four weeks of available data during the pandemic was significantly less than the four weeks prior to COVID-19 pandemic (pâ¯=â¯0.008). The ED visit decrease per week varied by region, with Region 1 having the greatest decrease (45%). MVCs decreased substantially across all cities studied, with New York City and Baton Rouge experiencing the greatest decrease (66%) during the pandemic. CONCLUSION: A number of factors have likely contributed to the substantial decrease in ED visits observed in this study. In light of these findings, it is important to raise patient awareness regarding acute conditions that are deadlier than COVID-19 and require immediate medical intervention to ensure recovery.