Recent Articles
The dissemination of information about residency programs is a vital step in residency recruitment. Traditional methods of distributing information have been printed brochures, websites, in-person interviews, and increasingly, social media. Away rotations and in-person interviews were cancelled, and interviews were virtual for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic.
One Health aims to use a multidisciplinary approach to combat health threats at animal, human, and environmental health interfaces. Among its broad focus areas are issues related to food safety, the control of zoonoses, laboratory services, neglected tropical diseases, environmental health, biosafety and biosecurity, and combatting antimicrobial resistance. A roundtable session was conducted on November 18, 2021, as part of the Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network's (EMPHNET) seventh regional conference to highlight what role Global Health Development (GHD)|EMPHNET can play to strengthen the One Health approach. This viewpoint summarizes the findings of the roundtable discussion to highlight the experts’ viewpoints on strengthening the One Health approach, including the extent of zoonotic diseases and the dynamics of pathogens and emerging diseases; the occurrence of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens as a silent pandemic; issues surrounding the globalization of trade and food safety; the importance of integrated solutions as a new norm; issues around the institutionalization and governance toward effective operationalization of the One Health approach in the region; and how the One Health approach can be operationalized at global, regional, and local levels. The panel concluded that One Health is an integrated unifying approach that aims to sustainably balance and optimize the health of people, animals, and ecosystems, and provided recommendations to strengthen the One Health approach. It also discussed how GHD|EMPHNET can play its role in transferring the concept of One Health from theory to practice via a solid operationalization road map guide at the Eastern Mediterranean region level. The five broad priority areas of this operational guide include (1) establishing and strengthening a governance architecture, legal framework, and policy and advocacy structure for One Health operationalization in the region; (2) fostering coordination, communication, and collaboration for One Health actions across the region and beyond; (3) building the workforce capacity for effective One Health operationalization in the region; (4) supporting regional platforms for timely, effective, and efficient data sharing and exchange on all One Health–related issues; and (5) supporting risk communication, behavior change communication, and community engagement efforts in the region.
Smartphones have become useful tools for medicine, with the use of specific apps making it possible to bring health care closer to inaccessible areas, continuously monitor a patient's pathology at any time and place, promote healthy habits, and ultimately improve patients’ quality of life and the efficiency of the health care system. Since 2020, the use of smartphones has reached unprecedented levels. There are more than 350,000 health apps, according to a 2021 IQVIA Institute report, that address, among other things, the management of patient appointments; communication among different services or professionals; the promotion of lifestyle changes related to adopting healthy habits; and the monitoring of different pathologies and chronic conditions, including smoking cessation. The number of mobile apps for quitting smoking is high. As early as 2017, a total of 177 unique smoking cessation–relevant apps were identified in the iPhone App Store, 139 were identified in Google Play, 70 were identified in the BlackBerry app store, and 55 were identified in the Windows Phone Store, but very few have adequate scientific support. It seems clear that efforts are needed to assess the quality of these apps, as well as their effectiveness in different population groups, to have tools that offer added value to standard practices.
A majority of people living with motor neuron disease (MND) experience weakness of the neck and as a result, experience head drop. This exacerbates problems with everyday activities (eating, talking, breathing, etc). Neck collars are often used to support head drop; however, these are typically designed for prehospitalization settings to manage and brace the cervical region of the spine. As a result, it has been recorded that people living with MND often reject these collars for a variety of reasons but most notably because they are too restricting. The current standardized outcome measures (most notably restricting cervical range of motion) used for neck collars are summarized herein along with whether they are suitable for a bespoke neck collar specifically designed for people living with MND.
The resilience of public health in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) varies from country to country, mostly based on the governmental and financial situation of the countries. With the theme of Towards Public Health Resilience in the EMR: Breaking Barriers, the seventh Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network regional conference, held from November 14 to 18, 2021, was dedicated to exploring ways for achieving public health resilience. A total of 101 oral presentations and 13 poster presentations were presented on various public health topics. The conference included 6 keynote sessions, 10 roundtable sessions, and 5 preconference workshops. The preconference workshops were conducted on border health; the mobilization of Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) residents and graduates and rapid responders in EMR countries; continuous professional development for the public health workforce; brucellosis surveillance using the “One Health” approach; and strategies to integrate and use noncommunicable diseases data sources. The roundtable sessions included discussions on the following topics: the role of FETPs in responding to COVID-19, institutionalization of rapid response to public health emergencies, health systems resilience, integration of early warning and response with event-based and indicator-based surveillance, sustaining international health regulations, strengthening the “One Health” approach, the anticipated future of public health in the post COVID-19 era, supporting public health research capacity in a diverse region, and COVID-19 vaccines and routine immunization synergies and drawbacks. The keynote speaker sessions covered topics on essential public health functions and the universal health coverage challenge in the EMR, lessons from the US COVID-19 public health response, learning from COVID-19, reshaping public health after the pandemic era, COVID-19 resilient primary health care, and the cohesion of society during and after a pandemic. The conference sessions provided highly promising opportunities to explore ways to achieve such goals in the EMR and shed light on the latest scientific findings, important lessons learned, and discussions on the ways in which current barriers can be broken down through coordination and collaboration.
Scleroderma is a group of autoimmune diseases that principally affects the skin, blood vessels, muscles, and viscera. One of the more well-known subgroups of scleroderma is the limited cutaneous form of the multisystem connective tissue disorder known as CREST (calcinosis, Raynaud phenomenon, esophageal dysmotility, sclerodactyly, and telangiectasis) syndrome. In this report, we present a case of a spontaneous colonic bowel perforation in a patient with incomplete features of CREST. Our patient underwent a complicated hospital course involving broad-spectrum antibiotic coverage, surgical hemicolectomy, and immunosuppressives. She was eventually discharged home with a return to functional baseline status after esophageal dysmotility confirmation via manometry. Physicians managing patients with scleroderma ensuing to an emergency department encounter must anticipate the multitude of complications that can occur, as was seen in our patient. The threshold for pursuing imaging and additional tests, in addition to admission, should be relatively low, given the extremely high rates of complications and mortality. Early multidisciplinary involvement with infectious disease, rheumatology, surgery, and other respective specialties is crucial for patient outcome optimization.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the work environment to a new reality of remote work and virtual collaboration. This shift has occurred in various work settings with an impact on spaces, approaches, applied techniques, and tools. This has resulted in the broad use of virtual tools in the health care sector to avoid physical encounters and in-person interactions that will likely outlast the COVID-19 pandemic. Developing effective virtual approaches requires the knowledge and skills of using digital technologies collaboratively combined with a deep understanding of the context or contexts in which these approaches may be used. The implementation of virtual health design methods, including web-based co-design, has increased to meet the realities of COVID-19 restrictions and is likely to outlast them. Adapting the use of co-design methodologies to a virtual configuration requires rethinking methods of collaboration and communication, adapting to virtual environments, and creating new methods of engagement and facilitation. With this viewpoint, we reviewed the current work on co-design (in person and web based) to propose techniques for the design, planning, and implementation of web-based co-design. We propose 7 considerations that may enable web-based co-design projects in the health care sector. The key considerations that affect the success of a web-based co-design approach should be considered in the process of planning, developing, and conducting web-based co-design sessions. These include facilitation, collaboration, accessibility and equity, communication, sensemaking, tangible tools and games, and web-based research ethics. We illustrate this work with a case study of co-design for an emergency department discharge tool developed during the pandemic.
Chronic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cerebrovascular diseases, contribute to the most significant disease burden worldwide, negatively impacting patients and their family members. People with chronic diseases have common modifiable behavioral risk factors, including smoking, alcohol overconsumption, and unhealthy diets. Digital-based interventions for promoting and sustaining behavioral changes have flourished in recent years, although evidence of the cost-effectiveness of such interventions remains inconclusive.
Despite significant improvement in the last decade, road trauma remains a substantial contributor to deaths in Vietnam. The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated public health measures that had an unforeseen benefit on road trauma in high-income countries. We investigate if this reduction was also seen in a low- to middle-income country like Vietnam.
COVID-19 has impacted billions of people and health care systems globally. However, there is currently no publicly available chatbot for patients and care providers to determine the potential severity of a COVID-19 infection or the possible biological system responses and comorbidities that can contribute to the development of severe cases of COVID-19. This preliminary investigation assesses this lack of a COVID-19 case-by-case chatbot into consideration when building a decision tree with binary classification that was stratified by age and body system, viral infection, comorbidities, and any manifestations. After reviewing the relevant literature, a decision tree was constructed using a suite of tools to build a stratified framework for a chatbot application and interaction with users. A total of 212 nodes were established that were stratified from lung to heart conditions along body systems, medical conditions, comorbidities, and relevant manifestations described in the literature. This resulted in a possible 63,360 scenarios, offering a method toward understanding the data needed to validate the decision tree and highlighting the complicated nature of severe cases of COVID-19. The decision tree confirms that stratification of the viral infection with the body system while incorporating comorbidities and manifestations strengthens the framework. Despite limitations of a viable clinical decision tree for COVID-19 cases, this prototype application provides insight into the type of data required for effective decision support.
The strategic plan of the Ethiopian Ministry of Health recommends an electronic medical record (EMR) system to enhance health care delivery and streamline data systems. However, only a few exhaustive systematic reviews and meta-analyses have been conducted on the degree of EMR use in Ethiopia and the factors influencing success. This will emphasize the factors that make EMR effective and increase awareness of its widespread use among future implementers in Ethiopia.
