Leadership roles and initiatives for diversity and inclusion in academic anesthesiology departments.

A cultural change in medicine has placed a renewed focus on the importance of a diverse and inclusive healthcare workforce. The methods employed by anesthesiology departments in pursuit of diversity and inclusion needs to be examined. OBJECTIVE: This study's objective was to assess the frequency of established leadership infrastructures and initiatives that promote diversity and inclusion within academic anesthesiology departments. DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional survey study. The authors emailed an electronic survey to 98 academic anesthesiology departments to assess leadership roles, dissemination platforms and initiatives used to support diversity and inclusion. SETTING: Academic anesthesiology department in the United States with at least 60 residents. MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURES: The measure tested was the existence and quantification of leadership roles and initiatives directed at diversity and inclusion efforts at academic anesthesiology departments. RESULTS: The survey response rate was 49.4% (95% CI 39.3-59.6%). While 62.5% (95% CI 47.0-75.8%) of respondents reported having faculty members with a diversity and inclusion role, only 27.5% (95% CI 16.1-42.8%) reported a clearly defined leadership role such as vice-chair or committee chair. Seventy percent of respondents reported initiatives geared towards diversity using multiple platforms to showcase these initiatives. CONCLUSIONS: Based on these survey results, many anesthesia departments have developed initiatives to promote their departmental diversity. However, only a minority have established clearly defined leadership roles, which may be critical to enhance departmental success in promoting diversity and inclusion.

Ebola virus disease - gaps in knowledge and practice among healthcare workers in Lagos, August 2014.

OBJECTIVE: Healthcare workers (HCWs) play pivotal roles in outbreak responses. Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak spread to Lagos, Nigeria, in July 2014, infecting 11 HCWs (case fatality rate of 45%). This study was conducted during the outbreak to assess HCWs' EVD-related knowledge and practices. METHODS: A health facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted among HCWs across Lagos State using stratified sampling technique. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was administered to elicit respondents' socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge and practices. A checklist assessing health facility's level of preparedness and HCWs' EVD-related training was employed. HCWs' knowledge and practices were scored and classified as either good or poor. Multivariate analysis was performed with confidence interval set at 95%. RESULTS: A total of 112 health facilities with 637 HCWs were recruited. Mean age of respondents was 40.1 ± 10.9 years. Overall, 72.5% had good knowledge; doctors knew most. However, only 4.6% of HCWs reported good practices. 16.6% reported having been trained in identifying suspected EVD patient(s); 12.2% had a triaging area for febrile patients in their facilities. Higher proportions of HCWs with good knowledge and training reported good practices. HCWs with EVD-related training were three times more likely to adopt good practices. CONCLUSION: Lagos State HCWs had good knowledge of EVD without a corresponding level of good practices. Training was a predictor of good practices.

Public knowledge, perception and source of information on ebola virus disease - lagos, Nigeria; september, 2014.

BACKGROUND: The first ever outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Nigeria was declared in July, 2014. Level of public knowledge, perception and adequacy of information on EVD were unknown. We assessed the public preparedness level to adopt disease preventive behavior which is premised on appropriate knowledge, perception and adequate information. METHODS: We enrolled 5,322 respondents in a community-based cross-sectional study. We used interviewer-administered questionnaire to collect data on socio-demographic characteristics, EVD-related knowledge, perception and source of information. We performed univariate and bivariate data analysis using Epi-Info software setting p-value of 0.05 as cut-off for statistical significance. RESULTS: Mean age of respondents was 34 years (± 11.4 years), 52.3% were males. Forty one percent possessed satisfactory general knowledge; 44% and 43.1% possessed satisfactory knowledge on mode of spread and preventive measures, respectively. Residing in EVD cases districts, male respondents and possessing at least secondary education were positively associated with satisfactory general knowledge (p-value: 0.01, 0.001 and 0.000004, respectively). Seventy one percent perceived EVD as a public health problem while 61% believed they cannot contract the disease. Sixty two percent and 64% of respondents will not shake hands and hug a successfully treated EVD patient respectively. Only 2.2% of respondents practice good hand-washing practice. Television (68.8%) and radio (55.0%) are the most common sources of information on EVD. CONCLUSIONS: Gaps in EVD-related knowledge and perception exist. Targeted public health messages to raise knowledge level, correct misconception and discourage stigmatization should be widely disseminated, with television and radio as media of choice.