Collection Staff Research Articles

Data Collection Expert Prior Elicitation in Survey Design: Two Case Studies

Abstract Data collection staff involved in sampling designs, monitoring and analysis of surveys often have a good sense of the response rate that can be expected in a survey, even when this survey is new or done at a relatively low frequency. They make expectations of response rates, and, subsequently, costs on an almost continuous basis. Rarely, however, are these expectations formally structured. Furthermore, the expectations usually are point estimates without any assessment of precision or uncertainty. In recent years, the interest in adaptive survey designs has increased. These designs lean heavily on accurate estimates of response rates and costs. In order to account for inaccurate estimates, a Bayesian analysis of survey design parameters is very sensible. The combination of strong intrinsic knowledge of data collection staff and a Bayesian analysis is a natural next step. In this article, prior elicitation is developed for design parameters with the help of data collection staff. The elicitation is applied to two case studies in which surveys underwent a major redesign and direct historic survey data was unavailable.

Implementasi Peraturan Walikota Surabaya Nomor 58 Tahun 2019, Tata Cara Pengumpulan, Pengolahan, Pemanfaatan, Pelaporan Data Masyarakat Berpenghasilan Rendah

Surabaya is the second largest city in Indonesia with very fast population growth. Currently, 30 percent of the people in Surabaya are low-income people. In the context of accelerating poverty alleviation, the Surabaya City Government stipulates Surabaya Mayor Regulation Number 58 of 2019, concerning procedures for collecting, processing, utilizing, and reporting data for low-income communities. The theory used is policy implementation according to George Edward III. The factors consist of communication, resources, disposition, and the structure of the bureaucracy. This research is qualitative research with a descriptive approach. The results of this study are limited to the process of collecting and processing MBR data that were found not to be right on target for underprivileged communities in Surabaya. There are obstacles in its implementation, namely in the process of clarity of information and also staff in data collection for MBR. With recommendations 1) The government should often evaluate MBR data every month so that it knows if there are residents whose economic status has improved, 2) Provide clear information to the public, 3) Increase the number of staff for surveys to MBR locations and must have integrity in order to be able to dispel data on residents who are not categorized as MBR.

DNA barcoding of the National Museum of Natural History reptile tissue holdings raises concerns about the use of natural history collections and the responsibilities of scientists in the molecular age.

Natural history collections are essential to a wide variety of studies in biology because they maintain large collections of specimens and associated data, including genetic material (e.g., tissues) for DNA sequence data, yet they are currently under-funded and collection staff have high workloads. With the advent of aggregate databases and advances in sequencing technologies, there is an increased demand on collection staff for access to tissue samples and associated data. Scientists are rapidly developing large DNA barcode libraries, DNA sequences of specific genes for species across the tree of life, in order to document and conserve biodiversity. In doing so, mistakes are made. For instance, inconsistent taxonomic information is commonly taken from different lending institutions and deposited in data repositories, such as the Barcode of Life Database (BOLD) and GenBank, despite explicit disclaimers regarding the need for taxonomic verification by the lending institutions. Such errors can have profound effects on subsequent research based on these mis-labelled sequences in data repositories. Here, we present the production of a large DNA barcode library of reptiles from the National Museum of Natural History tissue holdings. The library contains 2,758 sequences (2,205 COI and 553 16S) from 2260 specimens (four crocodilians, 37 turtles, and 2,219 lizards, including snakes), representing 583 named species, from 52 countries. In generating this library, we noticed several common mistakes made by scientists depositing DNA barcode data in public repositories (e.g., BOLD and GenBank). Our goal is to raise awareness of these concerns and offer advice to avoid such mistakes in the future to maintain accurate DNA barcode libraries to properly document Earth’s biodiversity.

SCOPE and EaaSI: Software Emulation and the Future of Architectural History

SCOPE and EaaSI: Software Emulation and the Future of Architectural History

Public Private Partnership (PPP) as an Aid to Tertiary Institution Support for Internally Generated Revenue (IGR): A Case Study of Yaba College of Technology

This study is on the contribution of public private partnership (PPP) to education development by generating revenue to sustain the infrastructure and academic decency of Yaba College of Technology, Lagos in Nigeria. Higher Education is a veritable tool for socio-economic development of any country. Training and educating society are the key influence of tertiary institution but they need to be financially sustained to carry out functional duties in terms of resources and development. PPP is seen as a solution to revamping educational sector that is experiencing failure in research and infrastructure growth everyday due to insensitivity on the part of government to finance education by meeting up the minimum requirement benchmark put forward by the United Nation (UN). The study identified the sources of internally generated revenue (IGR) of Yaba College of Technology, limitation facing these IGRs and investigated key issues affecting attempts to improve the IGR. The survey research strategy was used through questionnaire distribution to academic and non-academic members of staff for data collection. A total 150 questionnaires were returned. Sale of admission forms and Tuition fees and revenue from commercial ventures were revealed as main source of IGR. Analysis of the questionnaires showed key issues with IGR improvement to include performance, marketability, internalization, research and development as the challenges facing the institutional growth of the college. The study therefore recommends that concerted effort should be made by the government and private sectors to providing lasting solution to decline in educational sector of Nigeria.

Community-based asthma assessment in young children: adaptations for a multicentre longitudinal study in South Asia.

Background:Systematic assessment of childhood asthma is challenging in low- and middle-income country (LMIC) settings due to the lack of standardised and validated methodologies. We describe the contextual challenges and adaptation strategies in the implementation of a community-based asthma assessment in four resource-constrained settings in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.Method:We followed a group of children of age 6–8 years for 12 months to record their respiratory health outcomes. The study participants were enrolled at four study sites of the ‘Aetiology of Neonatal Infection in South Asia (ANISA)’ study. We standardised the research methods for the sites, trained field staff for uniform data collection and provided a ‘Child Card’ to the caregiver to record the illness history of the participants. We visited the children on three different occasions to collect data on respiratory-related illnesses. The lung function of the children was assessed in the outreach clinics using portable spirometers before and after 6-minute exercise, and capillary blood was examined under light microscopes to determine eosinophil levels.Results:We enrolled 1512 children, 95.5% (1476/1512) of them completed the follow-up, and 81.5% (1232/1512) participants attended the lung function assessment tests. Pre- and post-exercise spirometry was performed successfully in 88.6% (1091/1232) and 85.7% (1056/1232) of children who attempted these tests. Limited access to health care services, shortage of skilled human resources, and cultural diversity were the main challenges in adopting uniform procedures across all sites. Designing the study implementation plan based on the local contexts and providing extensive training of the healthcare workers helped us to overcome these challenges.Conclusion:This study can be seen as a large-scale feasibility assessment of applying spirometry and exercise challenge tests in community settings of LMICs and provides confidence to build capacity to evaluate children’s respiratory outcomes in future translational research studies.

Organizational factors associated with community therapists' self-efficacy in EBP delivery: The interplay between sustainment leadership, sustainment climate, and psychological safety.

Inner context organizational factors proximally shape therapist experiences with evidence-based practice (EBP) implementation and may influence therapist self-efficacy, which has been linked to sustained use of EBPs in community mental health settings. Research has primarily focused on constructs such as implementation leadership and climate. However, the effects of such factors may depend upon other inner context dimensions, such as psychological safety. Psychologically safe environments are conducive to taking risks, speaking up about problems, and requesting feedback and may promote therapist self-efficacy during implementation. This study examines whether organizational sustainment leadership and sustainment climate relate to therapist EBP self-efficacy only under conditions of psychological safety. Data were collected from 410 clinicians in 85 programs during the sustainment phase of a system-driven implementation of multiple EBPs in children's mental health services. Therapists reported on their organization's sustainment leadership, sustainment climate, psychological safety, and their own self-efficacy in delivering specific EBPs. Multilevel regression analyses were conducted to account for nested data structure. Among program-level variables, sustainment leadership and psychological safety both significantly predicted therapist self-efficacy. However, there were no significant interactions between program-level sustainment climate and psychological safety. Exploratory post-hoc analyses revealed a significant interaction between program-level sustainment leadership and therapist-level perceptions of psychological safety such that that the conditional effect of psychological safety on EBP self-efficacy was significant at high levels of sustainment leadership, but not at low or average levels. We noted independent links between sustainment leadership, organizational psychological safety and therapists feelings of confidence and mastery with EBPs. Therapists' individual perceptions of psychological safety were linked to self-efficacy only in programs with high sustainment leadership. Thus, sustainment leadership and psychological safety may both represent implementation intervention targets, but it may not be critical to assess for perceptions of psychological safety before deploying organizational leadership strategies.Plain language abstract Therapist self-efficacy is a therapist's belief that they are capable, knowledgeable, and skilled enough to deliver evidence-based practices (EBPs), and is thought to promote improved clinical and implementation outcomes, such as therapists' sustained use of EBPs. Conditions within community mental health organizations may influence therapists' sense of EBP self-efficacy. Leaders' support and expectations for EBP implementation, and collective staff perceptions about the organization's climate to support EBPs are linked to positive therapist attitudes and EBP adoption. However, less is known about how these implementation-specific organizational factors associated with therapist EBP self-efficacy in the long-term, and how this may depend on general workplace conditions. Specifically, psychologically safe environments - where therapists feel safe taking risks such as asking questions, admitting mistakes, and trying new skills - may be needed to promote self-efficacy when therapists are tasked with learning and using complex multi-component EBP innovations. The current study tested the prediction that leader-driven and program-wide focus on EBP sustainment may promote therapist EBP self-efficacy only in organizations where conditions for learning are psychologically safe. Our findings confirmed that fostering strong sustainment focused leadership and psychologically safe environments may each be important for increasing therapists' EBP self-efficacy. The model results suggested that individual therapist perceptions of psychological safety were more strongly related to EBP self-efficacy in programs with greater implementation leadership. Findings suggest the importance of increasing EBP leadership behavior to fully potentiate other facilitating conditions for therapist learning in the sustainment phase of EBP implementation initiatives.

Why Objects Matter in Higher Education

Integrating artifacts into the curriculum can increase students’ confidence when working with historical fragments. This article provides insight into what happened when students engaged with authentic historical artifacts for the purposes of learning for the first time. It draws from a range of qualitative data collected during a two-year period while teaching an undergraduate New Zealand history course. Students described learning how to read such objects and gaining skills in how to synthesize information highlighting both the short- and long-term pedagogical benefits stemming from object-based learning (OBL). While OBL needs specialist collections staff to work alongside the teacher, the article closes with encouraging comments about how OBL caters for different age groups, interests, and learning contexts.

Pemanfaatan media sosial online dan strategi konten untuk meningkatkan pemasaran UMKM ESM collection

Covid-19 pandemic not only strike people health, but it also affects the economic aspect. The pandemic also hit the MSMEs, especially ESM Collection, which have decreasing selling due to it only running in the offline store. Not having online marketing media, lack of skill and knowledge in utilizing social media for marketing strategy are the main issues that ESM Collection faces. This community service activity aims to help ESM Collection to overcome its difficulties. Those issues were solved through training and mentoring in using social media Instagram to do online marketing and content marketing strategy. This event is divided into three steps. Firstly, is developing a training guidebook, secondly training to use the marketing application and evaluate it. Lastly is mentoring. Instagram training is given to ESM Collection staff in two days, and mentoring is one month. The result of this event is the guidebook helps the participants to follow the training, and the training method can increase their knowledge to use Instagram as marketing media. Furthermore, through mentoring participants can upgrade their skill to implementing content strategy on Instagram. All in all, ESM Collection now can utilize Instagram as their online marketing media to apply the content marketing strategy to widen their market and increase their sales.

Building Global Capacity to Conduct Pathology-Based Postmortem Examination: Establishing a New Training Hub for Minimally Invasive Tissue Sampling.

BackgroundMinimally invasive tissue sampling (MITS), an alternative to complete diagnostic autopsy, is a pathology-based postmortem examination that has been validated in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and can provide accurate cause of death information when used with other data. The MITS Surveillance Alliance was established in 2017 with the goal to expand MITS globally by increasing training capacity, accessibility, and availability in LMICs. Between January 2019 and May 2020, the MITS Surveillance Alliance convened a multidisciplinary team of technical advisors to attain this goal.MethodsThis article describes the process used to develop criteria and identify an optimal location for a MITS training hub, establish a cadre of LMIC-based trainers, refine standardized MITS sample collection protocols, develop a training program, and release a telepathology platform for quality assessment of MITS histological samples.ResultsResults include the creation of a training hub and curriculum, with a total of 9 pathologists and technicians trained as part of the training of the trainers. Those trainers trained 15 participants from seven MITS projects representing 6 LMICs trained in MITS sample collection. The 15 participants have gone on to train more than 50 project-level staff in MITS sample collection.ConclusionsLessons learned include an appreciation for using an iterative process for establishing standardized procedures, creating opportunities for all stakeholders to deliver critical feedback, and highlighting the importance of complementing in-person trainings with ongoing technical assistance.

The Paleo Data Working Group: A model for developing and sustaining a community of practice

The Paleo Data Working Group: A model for developing and sustaining a community of practice

Workforce Capacity Development and the Digital Extended Specimen

As we look to the future of natural history collections and a global integration of biodiversity data, we are reliant on a diverse workforce with the skills necessary to build, grow, and support the data, tools, and resources of the Digital Extended Specimen (DES; Webster 2019, Lendemer et al. 2020, Hardisty 2020). Future “DES Data Curators” – those who will be charged with maintaining resources created through the DES – will require skills and resources beyond what is currently available to most natural history collections staff. In training the workforce to support the DES we have an opportunity to broaden our community and ensure that, through the expansion of biodiversity data, the workforce landscape itself is diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible. A fully-implemented DES will provide training that encapsulates capacity building, skills development, unifying protocols and best practices guidance, and cutting-edge technology that also creates inclusive, equitable, and accessible systems, workflows, and communities. As members of the biodiversity community and the current workforce, we can leverage our knowledge and skills to develop innovative training models that: include a range of educational settings and modalities; address the needs of new communities not currently engaged with digital data; from their onset, provide attribution for past and future work and do not perpetuate the legacy of colonial practices and historic inequalities found in many physical natural history collections. Recent reports from the Biodiversity Collections Network (BCoN 2019) and the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2020) specifically address workforce needs in support of the DES. To address workforce training and inclusivity within the context of global data integration, the Alliance for Biodiversity Knowledge included a topic on Workforce capacity development and inclusivity in Phase 2 of the consultation on Converging Digital Specimens and Extended Specimens - Towards a global specification for data integration. Across these efforts, several common themes have emerged relative to workforce training and the DES. A call for a community needs assessment: As a community, we have several unknowns related to the current collections workforce and training needs. We would benefit from a baseline assessment of collections professionals to define current job responsibilities, demographics, education and training, incentives, compensation, and benefits. This includes an evaluation of current employment prospects and opportunities. Defined skills and training for the 21st century collections professional: We need to be proactive and define the 21st century workforce skills necessary to support the development and implementation of the DES. When we define the skills and content needs we can create appropriate training opportunities that include scalable materials for capacity building, educational materials that develop relevant skills, unifying protocols across the DES network, and best practices guidance for professionals. Training for data end-users: We need to train data end-users in biodiversity and data science at all levels of formal and informal education from primary and secondary education through the existing workforce. This includes developing training and educational materials, creating data portals, and building analyses that are inclusive, accessible, and engage the appropriate community of science educators, data scientists, and biodiversity researchers. Foster a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible and professional workforce: As the DES develops and new tools and resources emerge, we need to be intentional in our commitment to building tools that are accessible and in assuring that access is equitable. This includes establishing best practices to ensure the community providing and accessing data is inclusive and representative of the diverse global community of potential data providers and users. Upfront, we must acknowledge and address issues of historic inequalities and colonial practices and provide appropriate attribution for past and future work while ensuring legal and regulatory compliance. Efforts must include creating transparent linkages among data and the humans that create the data that drives the DES. In this presentation, we will highlight recommendations for building workforce capacity within the DES that are diverse, inclusive, equitable and accessible, take into account the requirements of the biodiversity science community, and that are flexible to meet the needs of an evolving field.

Announcing Big-Bee: An initiative to promote understanding of bees through image and trait digitization

While bees are critical to sustaining a large proportion of global food production, as well as pollinating both wild and cultivated plants, they are decreasing in both numbers and diversity. Our understanding of the factors driving these declines is limited, in part, because we lack sufficient data on the distribution of bee species to predict changes in their geographic range under climate change scenarios. Additionally lacking is adequate data on the behavioral and anatomical traits that may make bees either vulnerable or resilient to human-induced environmental changes, such as habitat loss and climate change. Fortunately, a wealth of associated attributes can be extracted from the specimens deposited in natural history collections for over 100 years. Extending Anthophila Research Through Image and Trait Digitization (Big-Bee) is a newly funded US National Science Foundation Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections project. Over the course of three years, we will create over one million high-resolution 2D and 3D images of bee specimens (Fig. 1), representing over 5,000 worldwide bee species, including most of the major pollinating species. We will also develop tools to measure bee traits from images and generate comprehensive bee trait and image datasets to measure changes through time. The Big-Bee network of participating institutions includes 13 US institutions (Fig. 2) and partnerships with US government agencies. We will develop novel mechanisms for sharing image datasets and datasets of bee traits that will be available through an open, Symbiota-Light (Gilbert et al. 2020) data portal called the Bee Library. In addition, biotic interaction and species association data will be shared via Global Biotic Interactions (Poelen et al. 2014). The Big-Bee project will engage the public in research through community science via crowdsourcing trait measurements and data transcription from images using Notes from Nature (Hill et al. 2012). Training and professional development for natural history collection staff, researchers, and university students in data science will be provided through the creation and implementation of workshops focusing on bee traits and species identification. We are also planning a short, artistic college radio segment called "the Buzz" to get people excited about bees, biodiversity, and the wonders of our natural world.

Load Monitoring Practice in Elite Women Association Football.

The description of current load monitoring practices may serve to highlight developmental needs for both the training ground, academia and related industries. While previous studies described these practices in elite men's football, no study has provided an overview of load monitoring practices in elite women's football. Given the clear organizational differences (i.e., professionalization and infrastructure) between men's and women's clubs, making inferences based on men's data is not appropriate. Therefore, this study aims to provide a first overview of the current load monitoring practices in elite women's football. Twenty-two elite European women's football clubs participated in a closed online survey (40% response rate). The survey consisted of 33 questions using multiple choice or Likert scales. The questions covered three topics; type of data collected and collection purpose, analysis methods, and staff member involvement. All 22 clubs collected data related to different load monitoring purposes, with 18 (82%), 21 (95%), and 22 (100%) clubs collecting external load, internal load, and training outcome data, respectively. Most respondents indicated that their club use training models and take into account multiple indicators to analyse and interpret the data. While sports-science staff members were most involved in the monitoring process, coaching, and sports-medicine staff members also contributed to the discussion of the data. Overall, the results of this study show that most elite women's clubs apply load monitoring practices extensively. Despite the organizational challenges compared to men's football, these observations indicate that women's clubs have a vested interest in load monitoring. We hope these findings encourage future developments within women's football.

Comparison of venous hemoglobin saturation measurements obtained by in vivo oximetry and calculated from blood gas analysis in critically ill dogs

To compare in vivo central venous hemoglobin saturation measurement (ScvO2 ) using a fiber optic catheter with saturation calculated from blood gas analysis in critically ill dogs. Prospective observational study. University veterinary teaching hospital intensive care unit. A convenience sample of 20 dogs with severe illness. Dogs were instrumented with either a central venous catheter with an integrated fiber optic cable or a conventional catheter with a fiber optic probe inserted through its distal port. Baseline saturation was measured with the fiber optic system (FSO2 ), then monitored continuously. Central venous blood was collected for analysis and FSO2 was recorded by the principal investigator (PI) or nursing staff participating in data collection (staff) at baseline and at 1, 2, 3, and 6 hours. Hemoglobin oxygen saturation (SO2 ) values calculated using human Bohr coefficients were taken directly from the analyzer (GPSO2 ), and were also calculated using temperature-correction and canine Bohr coefficients (RSO2 ). Ninety-seven paired measurements from 20 dogs were analyzed. FSO2 obtained by the PI (n = 41) had better agreement with both GPSO2 (concordance correlation coefficient ρc = 0.926 vs 0.5562) and RSO2 (ρc = 0.75 for PI vs 0.54) than did staff (n = 56). RSO2 values were always smaller than GPSO2 . FSO2 - GPSO2 differences were smaller when measurements were collected by the PI versus Staff (mean difference 0.21 vs -6.6, respectively, P<0.02). Thirty-six of 41 FSO2 values obtained by PI were within 5% of GPSO2 . Concordance between FSO2 and either calculation method was low, but was better when performed by PI. The larger difference between methods when using RSO2 suggests a positive bias by FSO2 . Difficulty obtaining stable measurements may have contributed to the poor concordance between methods within Staff.

Service Quality Improvement of Outpatient Blood Collection by Lean Management.

ObjectiveTo explore the application effect of lean management in improving the quality of outpatient blood collection services.MethodsFor this study, a total of 146,907 patients whose blood was sampled by outpatient services between April 2020 and September 2020 were selected. We analyzed the influence of various factors on the waiting time and satisfaction levels of the patients for blood collection and eliminated confounders based on the results of the analysis. Lean management for the outpatient blood collection service was implemented in July 2020. Thus, the 38,275 cases sampled on weekday mornings between April and June 2020 were selected as the ordinary management group, while the 39,473 cases sampled on weekday mornings between July and September 2020 belonged to the lean management group. Finally, the changes in waiting time and the satisfaction levels of the patients were evaluated.ResultsThe age and gender of the patients and the length of service of the staff, who administered blood collection had a negligible effect on the waiting time (Z=−1.243, P=0.418; Z=−1.569, P=0.389; Z = −1.062, P= 0.563), while there was a statistical difference in the waiting time between different days and different sessions (Z = −2.581, P = 0.013 and Z = −4.672, P < 0.001). We also found that the length of service of blood collection staff, day, session, and age and gender of patients did not have a meaningful effect on patient satisfaction (P > 0.05). Overall, the median waiting time of outpatients decreased from 22 min to 13 min after the implementation of lean management (Z =10.522, P < 0.001), while the satisfaction level of outpatients increased from 95.37% to 98.33% (χ2 = 559.580, P < 0.001).ConclusionThe application of lean management can significantly shorten outpatient waiting time for blood collection, improve patients satisfaction levels, and enhance the overall patient experience. Thus, lean management can significantly improve the service quality of outpatient blood collection.

Quality of Early Essential Newborn Care in hospitals in Gaza: a pre-intervention and post-intervention study

BackgroundIn 2017, the Ministry of Health in Gaza introduced Early Essential Newborn Care (EENC) as its primary maternal and neonatal care strategy. EENC comprises a package of simple evidence-based interventions that are delivered during labour and delivery, and in the early post-partum period, to prevent or treat the most important causes of morbidity and mortality in newborn babies. Four public maternity hospitals in Gaza, responsible for approximately 75% of all deliveries, began implementation of EENC in June, 2017. Clinical coaching was delivered by national facilitators over 2 days, and targeted all clinical staff in maternity and neonatal units. Subsequently, EENC quality improvement teams were formed to address contextual factors that influence practice. This study aimed to determine whether introduction of EENC resulted in changes in clinical practices for vaginal births. MethodsA pre-intervention and post-intervention design was used to review key clinical practices before and after EENC introduction in the four hospitals. Trained data collection staff visited each hospital for 1 day in each of the months of March and June, 2017 (before EENC implementation), January and April, 2018 (in the early stages of EENC implementation), September, 2018, and June, 2019 (after full EENC implementation). Standard WHO data collection methods and tools were used to gather practice data using exit interviews and chart reviews of 10–15 randomly selected post-partum mothers who had delivered vaginally in the previous 2–24 h and had not experienced a newborn death or stillbirth. Delivery observations were conducted for five to ten randomly selected vaginal deliveries using a standard clinical skills observation checklist, beginning at the second stage of labour. The Ministry of Health in Gaza approved EENC assessments for programme use, and informed verbal consent was obtained before maternal interviews. No personal identifiers were used in assessments. Findings259 maternal post-partum interviews and 139 observations of birth practices were done across the four maternity hospitals, representing 8·8% (259 of 2940) and 4·7% (139) of expected vaginal births during the observation periods, respectively. Comparing practices at baseline, early implementation, and after full implementation, significant trend improvements were noted for proportion of babies receiving thorough drying (0% [0 of 12], 49% [32 of 66], 72% [43 of 60], respectively, p<0·0004), immediate skin-to-skin contact (SSC) for less than 1 min (0% [0 of 14], 33% [43 of 127], 66% [72 of 110], p<0·0001), uninterrupted SSC for at least 60 min (0% [0 of 14], 21% [27 of 129], 48% [53 of 111], p<0·0001), uninterrupted SSC for at least 90 min (0% [0 of 14], 10% [13 of 129], 36% [39 of 110], p<0·0001), early breastfeeding (15–90 min after birth) (0% [0 of 15], 39% [50 of 130], 61% [65 of 107], p<0·0001), breastfeeding before separation (0% [0 of 15], 28% [36 of 131], 52% [56 of 108], p<0·0001), and exclusive breastfeeding before discharge (33% [5 of 15], 68% [89 of 131], 81% [87 of 107], p=0·0010). Average clinical practice scores rose from five of 42 (12%) to 16 of 42 (38%) and 24 of 42 (57%). Practice improvements were supported by updated clinical guidelines, hospital policies, and routines, by reorganisation of work, and by the provision of simple supplies, including gowns for mothers and caps for newborn babies. InterpretationThe EENC clinical coaching approach coupled with regular self-assessments and action by hospital teams has significantly improved care practices during delivery and in the early post-partum period. It is possible that periodic cross-sectional practice reviews were not representative of routine practices, which may have varied with time of day, case load, and case complexity. Limitations were mitigated by assessing a systematic random sample of post-partum women delivering throughout the previous 24 h, and by measuring practices in two different time periods in each phase of implementation. Post-partum interviews were used to limit the Hawthorne effect. No other maternal or newborn initiatives were introduced during the study period, and no additional staff training was available, therefore the EENC approach was the primary influence on health worker practices. FundingSupport for this work was provided by WHO, occupied Palestinian territory.

Seroprevalence of SARS-Coronavirus 2 among asymptomatic healthy blood donors from healthcare and non-healthcare settings: Implications for safety of blood donors and blood collection staff during blood donation

IntroductionSARS-Coronavirus-2 pandemic has adversely affected blood supply as potential blood donors were afraid of acquiring infection in hospital settings. We aimed to compare COVID-19 seroprevalence among asymptomatic blood donors from healthcare and non-healthcare setting to analyse the difference in exposure level of each group as well as the risk of acquiring infection during the process of blood donation. Material and MethodsAnalysis of whole blood donors tested for SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies was carried out after categorizing them into healthcare workers (HCW) and non-healthcare workers (NHCW). NHCW were further categorized into residents of containment and non-containment zones and seroprevalence analyzed. Seroprevalence among different ABO blood groups was also analyzed. Results1191 blood donors were tested for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies with 9.5 % seropositivity. Significantly lower seropositivity of 3.2 % (p < 0.001) was observed among HCW as compared to 10.9 % seropositivity in NHCW. Among NHCW no difference in seropositivity was observed based on residence in containment or non-containment zone. Significantly higher (p = 0.012) seroprevalence was observed among A blood group donors (12.5 %) as compared to O blood group donors (6.8 %). ConclusionResults suggests that a blood donor, in a hospital setting is less likely to be exposed to COVID-19 disease than when participating in activities of daily living. It is postulated that the lower seroprevalence among HCW as compared to NHCW reflects differences in knowledge and practice of preventive measures among these groups. The findings should instil confidence among blood donors and motivate them to donate blood without fear.

Two Sample Policy

Background and Objectives: Pretransfusion testing has undergone remarkable changes over the past few decades starting from manual methods to semi-automation to full automation, but sample collection from the right person is out of scope of blood center. Through this study, we tried to address this issue by introducing two-sample policy in our institute. The objective of this study is to emphasize the importance of using two different samples for type and screen and crossmatch. Methods: This is a retrospective study extending over a period of 3.5 years (January 2015–June 2018) in a tertiary care health center. Retrospective data collections were done for the period post implementation of two-sample policy in the institute. As per the two-sample policy, two samples of the same patient would be collected, one at the time of type and screen and other at the time of blood component arrangement request. In case of any discordance between the two samples, incident is generated. Results: Of total 110,949 requests, 85,326 blood/blood components were issued, 56879 of which were for packed red blood cells (PRBCs) and a total of 34,922 PRBC units were released in the study duration. A total of 22/(0.06%) errors were recorded as grouping discrepancy between type and screen sample and sample received for blood component arrangement request. Incidentally, all 22 cases were for the arrangement of PRBC. Out of 22 errors, 20 were near misses and were detected in immunohematology laboratory at the time of compatibility testing and 2/22 (9.09%) errors were actual no harm events. Conclusion: The problem of wrong blood in tube (WBIT) is still a challenge faced by many laboratory persons. The issue can be resolved by training dedicated staff for sample collection. Although this policy has many drawbacks, such as added costs of sample collection and double testing, inconvenience to the patient, delay in providing blood, and increased type O blood use, we would like to emphasize that it would be helpful in error reduction.

Direct Observation, Estimates, and Correlates of Public Mask-Wearing During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objectives To estimate the prevalence of public mask-wearing in various settings through direct observation. Self-report mask-wearing is susceptible to recall bias and a desire by respondents to appear socially responsible. Direct observation of public behavior does not face such limitations and can provide differentiation between correct and incorrect mask-wearing. Methods Trained observers recorded public behavior between 11/01/2020-12/31/2020 at 37 sites across Marion County, Indiana. For each individual observed, data collection staff recorded a status of “masked,” “non-masked” or “partial mask.” “Masked” was defined as the presence of any cloth face covering or surgical mask that covered the mouth and nose, including the nostrils, and extended below the chin. “Non-masked” was defined as the complete absence of a face covering, a face covering that was worn only below the chin, a face covering held in a hand, a face covering hanging off an ear, or a face shield only. “Partial mask” was defined as the face covering only over the mouth or over the nose, but not both, or the nose being partially covered with the nostrils somewhat or fully visible. Results 80% of adults wore face masks correctly and an additional 9% were partially masked. The prevalence of mask-wearing was lowest in outdoor spaces (54%) as well as in small retail stores (58%). Higher rates of mask usage were observed at large organizations like grocery stores and “big box” retailers (84%), shopping malls (85%), civic and government sites (86%), or higher education settings (88%). Mask-wearing was more common among females (84%) than males (76%); males had a higher percentage of partial mask-wearing. Conclusions While public health professionals and agencies encourage universal mask-wearing in public settings, observed levels may still be sufficient to reduce the spread of COVID-19.