An Emergent Network for the Diffusion of Innovations Among Local Health Departments at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

INTRODUCTION: Communication networks among professionals can be pathways for accelerating the diffusion of innovations if some local health departments (LHDs) drive the spread of knowledge. Such a network could prove valuable during public health emergencies such as the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Our objective was to determine whether LHDs in the United States were tied together in an informal network to share information and advice about innovative community health practices, programs, and policies. METHODS: In January and February 2020, we conducted an online survey of 2,303 senior LHD leaders to ask several questions about their sources of advice. We asked respondents to rank up to 3 other LHDs whose practices informed their work on new public health programs, evidence-based practices, and policies intended to improve community health. We used a social network analysis program to assess answers. RESULTS: A total of 329 LHDs responded. An emergent network appeared to operate nationally among 740 LHDs. Eleven LHDs were repeatedly nominated by peers as sources of advice or examples (ie, opinion leaders), and 24 acted as relational bridges to hold these emergent networks together (ie, boundary spanners). Although 2 LHDs played both roles, most LHDs we surveyed performed neither of these roles. CONCLUSION: Opinion leading and boundary spanning health departments can be accessed to increase the likelihood of affecting the rate of interest in and adoption of innovations. Decision makers involved in disseminating new public health practices, programs, or policies may find our results useful both for emergencies and for practice-as-usual.

Use of electronic health records to support a public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States: a perspective from 15 academic medical centers.

Our goal is to summarize the collective experience of 15 organizations in dealing with uncoordinated efforts that result in unnecessary delays in understanding, predicting, preparing for, containing, and mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. Response efforts involve the collection and analysis of data corresponding to healthcare organizations, public health departments, socioeconomic indicators, as well as additional signals collected directly from individuals and communities. We focused on electronic health record (EHR) data, since EHRs can be leveraged and scaled to improve clinical care, research, and to inform public health decision-making. We outline the current challenges in the data ecosystem and the technology infrastructure that are relevant to COVID-19, as witnessed in our 15 institutions. The infrastructure includes registries and clinical data networks to support population-level analyses. We propose a specific set of strategic next steps to increase interoperability, overall organization, and efficiencies.

Implications of telehealth and digital care solutions during COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative literature review.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought changes to the way medical care is delivered to keep health workers safe while simultaneously managing available resources. The well-being of patients and healthcare workers is crucial and has become a topic of debate as the world faces adjusts to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, there is need to consider innovative methods of delivering medical care. Telehealth and digital health care which is the provision of medical care via Information Communication Technology (ICT) with highspeed telecommunications systems, has increasingly becoming popular in providing medical care services can be adopted to reduce infections during quarantine and social distancing practices. Specifically, by means of document and literature review this paper discusses the role of telehealth and digital care solutions, types and application of telehealth, and current policies for COVID-19. More importantly, findings from the article present the human, infrastructure, and institutional determinants that influence the adoption of telehealth and digital care solutions during the pandemic. The findings discuss how telehealth and digital care technologies can benefit the society. This study provides implications to informs medical staffs on the potential of digital technologies to provide support during and after the pandemic.

Early Warnings: The Lessons of COVID-19 for Public Health Climate Preparedness.

The early 2020 response to COVID-19 revealed major gaps in public health systems around the world as many were overwhelmed by a quickly-spreading new coronavirus. While the critical task at hand is turning the tide on COVID-19, this pandemic serves as a clarion call to governments and citizens alike to ensure public health systems are better prepared to meet the emergencies of the future, many of which will be climate-related. Learning from the successes as well as the failures of the pandemic response provides some guidance. We apply several recommendations of a recent World Health Organization Policy Brief on COVID-19 response to 5 key areas of public health systems - governance, information, services, determinants, and capacity - to suggest early lessons from the coronavirus pandemic for climate change preparedness. COVID-19 has demonstrated how essential public health is to well-functioning human societies and how high the economic cost of an unprepared health system can be. This pandemic provides valuable early warnings, with lessons for building public health resilience.

The global experience of digital health interventions in COVID-19 management.

Digital health interventions are globally playing a significant role to combat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is an infectious disease caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2. Here, we present a very brief overview of the multifaceted digital interventions, globally, and in India, for maintaining health and health-care delivery, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.