ABSTRACT
Conversation about health(care) takes place online and offline. By making conscious choices about public and media appearances, doctors can contribute to good health(care) based on the confidence people have 'in the white coat'. Doctors can offer people guidance if they know how to respond to the questions people have about their health or that of their loved ones. Because great weight is attached to the words of doctors, unintentional damage is lurking in the event of a media appearance, if there is a lack of preparation. In addition to media training, four questions can be helpful in preparing for media appearances: 1) What social dynamics do you observe or expect? 2) Why do you want to get involved in a societal debate via the media? 3) What talents and expertise do you bring into the discussions? And 4) which aspects do you maybe not wish to discuss in public?
Subject(s)
Physicians , Humans , Physician-Patient Relations , CommunicationABSTRACT
The COVID-19 outbreak and its control measures affect the life, livelihood and way of life of many. Vulnerable groups may require different information, practical, emotional and financial support, depending on their specific vulnerabilities. Early reports for the Dutch government on the impacts of COVID-19 control measures were used for drafting a preliminary overview of vulnerable groups and their vulnerabilities. The overview may serve as first step towards a scoping review and be of use in the professional discussion for targeting and finetuning the support to the groups most in need.
ABSTRACT
When epidemics occur, experts advise the Ministries on effective control measures. There is uncertainty in the translation of epidemiological evidence into effective outbreak management interventions, due to contradicatory problem perspectives, diverse interests and time pressure. Several models have been developed that aim to integrate societal context information in risk assessment to improve the feasibility and the implementation of adviced measures. The current study explored the views of relevant public officials on this issue using the Rapid Risk Assessment of Acute Public Health Events model of the World Health Organization. Eighteen public officials involved in infectious disease risk assessment and policy making in the Netherlands participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews. Their experiences, expectations and expert opinions on the use of societal context information for infectious disease outbreak control were explored. Most interviewees consider information on societal context necessary for infectious disease risk management. However, different perspectives exist on which information is relevant, and how, when, why and by whom it should be obtained. We conclude that outbreak control could benefit from systematically gathered information on the societal context. This requires identifying which information is beneficial and selecting or designing methods to obtain it. Explicit stakeholder assessment seems a first step.
Subject(s)
Epidemics/prevention & control , Communicable Disease Control , Health Policy , Humans , Interviews as Topic , Netherlands/epidemiology , Policy Making , Risk Assessment , UncertaintyABSTRACT
Recently, two patients of African origin were given a diagnosis of Plasmodium falciparum malaria without recent travel to a malaria-endemic country. This observation highlights the importance for clinicians to consider tropical malaria in patients with fever. Possible transmission routes of P. falciparum to these patients will be discussed. From a public health perspective, international collaboration is crucial when potential cases of European autochthonous P. falciparum malaria in Europe re considered.
