COVID-19's impact on Australia's health research workforce.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Peeters A
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7426082 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in calls for an increased integration of community health workers (CHWs) into the health system response. Historically, CHWs can play an important role in ensuring the sustainability of health policy implementation - by addressing social determinants of health and maintaining care for ongoing health problems. Their frontline work, with close contact to populations, places CHWs in a position of increased vulnerability to becoming infected and to being the target of abuse and violence. These vulnerabilities compound underlying problems faced by CHWs, who often come from poor backgrounds, are insufficiently paid and receive inadequate training. Speaking to a scarcity of studies on how CHWs are impacted by the pandemic, this paper conducts a systematic study of CHWs in Brazil. Based on quantitative and qualitative data collected during June and July 2020, it considers perceptions and experiences of CHWs, comparing them with other health professionals. We study the extent to which the pandemic added to existing vulnerabilities and created new problems and imbalances in the work of CHWs. We conclude that COVID-19 led to a deterioration of the working conditions of CHWs, of their relations with other health professionals, and of their ability to carry out their essential work in the public health system.
| S-EPMC8752101 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionThe Covid-19 pandemic has required countries to prepare their health workforce for a rapid increase of patients. This research aims to analyse the planning and health workforce policies in Germany, a country with a largely decentralised workforce governance mechanism.MethodsSystematic search between 18 and 31 May 2020 at federal and 16 states on health workforce action and planning (websites of ministries of health, public health authorities), including pandemic preparedness plans and policies. The search followed World Health Organisation (WHO) Europe's health workforce guidance on Covid-19. Content analysis was performed, informed by the themes of WHO.ResultsThe pandemic preparedness plans consisted of no or limited information on how to expand and prepare the health workforce during pandemics. The 16 states varied considerably regarding implementing strategies to expand health workforce capacities. Only one state adopted a policy on task-shifting despite a federal law on task-shifting during pandemics.ConclusionsPlanning on the health workforce, its capacity and skill-mix during pandemics was limited in the pandemic response plans. Actions during the peak of the pandemic varied considerably across states, were implemented ad hoc and with limited planning. Future action should focus on integrated planning and evaluation of workforce policies.
| S-EPMC8250947 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe increased need for mental health and substance use health (MHSUH) services during the COVID-19 pandemic underscores the need to better understand workforce capacity. This study aimed to examine the pandemic's impact on the capacity of MHSUH service providers and to understand reasons contributing to changes in availability or ability to provide services.MethodsWe conducted a mixed method study including a pan-Canadian survey of 2177 providers of MHSUH services and semi-structured interviews with 13 key informants. Survey participants answered questions about how the pandemic had changed their capacity to provide services, reasons for changes in capacity, and how their practice had during the pandemic. Thematic analysis of key informant interviews was conducted to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of the pandemic on the MHSUH workforce.ResultsAnalyses of the survey data indicated that the pandemic has had diverse effects on the capacity of MHSUH workers to provide services: 43% indicated decreased, 24% indicated no change, and 33% indicated increased capacity. Logistic regression analyses showed that privately funded participants had 3.2 times greater odds of increased capacity (B = 1.17, p < 0.001), and participants receiving funding from a mix of public and private sources had 2.4 times greater odds of increased capacity (B = 0.88, p < 0.001) compared to publicly funded participants. Top reasons for decreases included lockdown measures and clients lacking access or comfort with virtual care. Top reasons for increases included using virtual care and more people having problems relevant to the participant's skills. Three themes were constructed from thematic analysis of key informant interviews: the differential impact of public health measures, long-term effects of pandemic work conditions, and critical gaps in MHSUH workforce data.ConclusionsThe COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial impact on the capacity of the MHSUH workforce to provide services. Findings indicate the importance of increasing and harmonizing funding for MHSUH services across the public and private sectors, developing standardized datasets describing the MHSUH workforce, and prioritizing equity across the spectrum of MHSUH services.
| S-EPMC9907177 | biostudies-literature
Project description:SummarySince the start of the COVID-19 pandemic the UK's National Health Service (NHS) has been transformed to meet the acute healthcare needs of infected patients. This has significantly affected medical education, both undergraduate and postgraduate, with potential long-term implications for psychiatric recruitment. This article discusses these ramifications, and the opportunities available to mitigate them as well as to enhance the profile of psychiatry.
| S-EPMC7711332 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is leading to social (physical) distancing policies worldwide, including in the USA. Some of the first actions taken by governments are the closing of schools. The evidence that mandatory school closures reduce the number of cases and, ultimately, mortality comes from experience with influenza or from models that do not include the effect of school closure on the health-care labour force. The potential benefits from school closures need to be weighed against costs of health-care worker absenteeism associated with additional child-care obligations. In this study, we aimed to measure child-care obligations for US health-care workers arising from school closures when these are used as a social distancing measure. We then assessed how important the contribution of health-care workers would have to be in reducing mortality for their absenteeism due to child-care obligations to undo the benefits of school closures in reducing the number of cases.MethodsFor this modelling analysis, we used data from the monthly releases of the US Current Population Survey to characterise the family structure and probable within-household child-care options of US health-care workers. We accounted for the occupation within the health-care sector, state, and household structure to identify the segments of the health-care workforce that are most exposed to child-care obligations from school closures. We used these estimates to identify the critical level at which the importance of health-care labour supply in increasing the survival probability of a patient with COVID-19 would undo the benefits of school closures and ultimately increase cumulative mortality.FindingsBetween January, 2018, and January, 2020, the US Current Population Survey included information on more than 3·1 million individuals across 1·3 million households. We found that the US health-care sector has some of the highest child-care obligations in the USA, with 28·8% (95% CI 28·5-29·1) of the health-care workforce needing to provide care for children aged 3-12 years. Assuming non-working adults or a sibling aged 13 years or older can provide child care, 15·0% (14·8-15·2) of the health-care workforce would still be in need of child care during a school closure. We observed substantial variation within the health-care system. We estimated that, combined with reasonable parameters for COVID-19 such as a 15·0% case reduction from school closings and 2·0% baseline mortality rate, a 15·0% decrease in the health-care labour force would need to decrease the survival probability per percent health-care worker lost by 17·6% for a school closure to increase cumulative mortality. Our model estimates that if the infection mortality rate of COVID-19 increases from 2·00% to 2·35% when the health-care workforce declines by 15·0%, school closures could lead to a greater number of deaths than they prevent.InterpretationSchool closures come with many trade-offs, and can create unintended child-care obligations. Our results suggest that the potential contagion prevention from school closures needs to be carefully weighted with the potential loss of health-care workers from the standpoint of reducing cumulative mortality due to COVID-19, in the absence of mitigating measures.FundingNone.
| S-EPMC7270508 | biostudies-literature
Project description:COVID-19 Health Surveillance FVG
| PRJEB46661 | ENA
Project description:IntroductionSars-CoV-2 is a novel coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 officially declared pandemic in March 2020. Health systems worldwide responded with swift changes to increase workflow capacity while protecting the vulnerable, including those with cancer. This led to unprecedented and rapid restructuring of health service provision. Published data from the 2003 SARS pandemic focuses on medical and nursing staff, overlooking other departmental employees such as administration officers or food service workers. Our protocol aims to document directives and adjustments communicated to staff in two cancer care departments and correlate this with measures of distress and perceived preparedness across the spectrum of all staff involved in cancer care.Methods and analysisWe use a semiqualitative approach comprising weekly diarising of events and simultaneous staff surveys. Principal investigators will document changes at a metropolitan quaternary cancer centre and a regional cancer centre. Communications, directives and changes will be diarised in real time in four executional domains. Simultaneously, prospective voluntary self-administered online surveys will be conducted at regular intervals by staff. The survey assesses the perceived institutional preparedness and personal well-being, with a combination of Likert scaled and open response questions. A semiquantitative self-assessment of distress adapted from National Comprehensive Cancer Network distress thermometer is incorporated. Additionally, open-text personal reflections on themes including difficult decisions will be invited. Survey participants will be drawn from various work areas of the cancer care departments: administrative staff, health professionals, for example, allied health, ancillary workers, nursing and medical.Ethics and disseminationThe study has been reviewed and approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee (LNR/2020/QRBW/62982). Published literature on domains of distress neglects categories of healthcare worker who form an essential part of the care delivery team. Our study hopes to gather insights about psychosocial impact and adjustment which could direct responses in future emergencies.
| S-EPMC8103556 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Reducing severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections among healthcare workers is critical. We ran Monte Carlo simulations modeling the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in non-COVID-19 wards, and we found that longer nursing shifts and scheduling designs in which teams of nurses and doctors co-rotate no more frequently than every 3 days can lead to fewer infections.
| S-EPMC7403749 | biostudies-literature
Project description: Not available
| S-EPMC7525262 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionThe single biggest barrier for countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to scale up the necessary health services for addressing the three health-related Millennium Development Goals and achieving Universal Health Coverage is the lack of an adequate and well-performing health workforce. This deficit needs to be addressed both by training more new health personnel and by improving the performance of the existing and future health workforce. However, efforts have mostly been focused on training new staff and less on improving the performance of the existing health workforce. The purpose of this paper is to disseminate the protocol for the PERFORM project and reflect on the key challenges encountered during the development of this methodology and how they are being overcome.MethodsThe overall aim of the PERFORM project is to identify ways of strengthening district management in order to address health workforce inadequacies by improving health workforce performance in SSA. The study will take place in three districts each in Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda using an action research approach. With the support of the country research teams, the district health management teams (DHMTs) will lead on planning, implementation, observation, reflection and redefinition of the activities in the study. Taking into account the national and local human resource (HR) and health systems (HS) policies and practices already in place, 'bundles' of HR/HS strategies that are feasible within the context and affordable within the districts' budget will be developed by the DHMTs to strengthen priority areas of health workforce performance. A comparative analysis of the findings from the three districts in each country will add new knowledge on the effects of these HR/HS bundles on DHMT management and workforce performance and the impact of an action research approach on improving the effectiveness of the DHMTs in implementing these interventions.DiscussionDifferent challenges were faced during the development of the methodology. These include the changing context in the study districts, competing with other projects and duties for the time of district managers, complexity of the study design, maintaining the anonymity and confidentiality of study participants as well as how to record the processes during the study. We also discuss how these challenges are being addressed. The dissemination of this research protocol is intended to generate interest in the PERFORM project and also stimulate discussion on the use of action research in complex studies such as this on strengthening district health management to improve health workforce performance.
| S-EPMC3758965 | biostudies-literature