Emergency Response Policies Research Articles

Quantitative evaluation of China’s public health emergencies response policies: a PMC index model approach

BackgroundIn recent years, public health emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Ebola outbreaks, have occurred with increasing frequency worldwide, posing significant threats to global public health security. Policies serve as the foundation and institutional framework for effective emergency responses. Consequently, evaluating and optimizing the formulation and implementation of Public Health Emergency Response Policies (PHERPs) to enhance emergency response capacities has become an urgent and important research priority.MethodsThis study developed an evaluation system for PHERPs using content analysis of policy texts, expert consultations, and the PMC-Index model. It quantitatively analyzed 33 central-level PHERPs in China issued between 2003 and 2020.ResultsThe analysis revealed an average PMC-Index score of 6.43 for the 33 PHERPs. The PMC-Surface analysis highlighted that the top three scoring indicators were policy openness, policy structure, and policy area. In contrast, the lowest-scoring indicators were policy timeliness, issuing agency, and incentive measures.ConclusionsThe study demonstrates was generally good. However, significant variability was observed in the scores of individual indicators across different policies. These findings provide valuable insights into the strengths and weaknesses of PHERPs and offer a reference for optimizing policy design and implementation.

A-330 Implementation of a Point of Care Emergency Preparedness policy: Are you ready for a disaster?

Abstract Background CAP Gen.73800 requires laboratories to have an Emergency Preparedness and Response policy. Hospital standards for Joint Commission Accreditation, EM.09.01.01, EM.12.02.09, and EM.16.01.01 require hospitals to have a comprehensive emergency management program including an ability to manage resources and assets during an emergency and conduct exercises to evaluate its plan. According to a survey of 27 POCT departments, only 35% have a POCT policy separate from the main lab and 50% of POCT programs are involved with emergency preparedness drills. With the continuing growth of POC testing, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) POCT team recognized a need for a collaborative effort between main laboratories, the emergency management team, and POCT to develop a POCT emergency preparedness policy. Methods UPMC POCT team collaborated with emergency management to decide what details regarding POC tests and devices would be needed if the main laboratory was rendered not functional. Additionally, a hazard vulnerability review identified potential internal and external events that could impact patient care. POC coordinators from across the system supplied feedback as to what situations within POC could impact patient safety. Results An evaluation of hazards considered debilitating to the main laboratory included external events, such as weather emergencies or evacuation of the hospital due to safety concerns. Potential internal events including a loss of water or impeded functionality of an instrument platform were identified. Available POC tests may offer solutions to deficits in main lab testing. The POCT program is not immune to potential emergency situations. Connectivity/IT issues can require extensive troubleshooting. Supply chain disruptions that affect the availability of consumables may lead to a reverse scenario where emergency management may assist. On-line training modules are a consideration when labor strikes or staffing shortages require POCT programs to quickly onboard replacement workers as new operators. During pandemics, Coordinators may need to rapidly implement new testing. The UPMC Emergency Preparedness policy was developed as a guide to the POCT team to ensure the continuation of testing ability in these emergent situations and addresses the need for communication with Incident Command. The UPMC POCT Emergency Preparedness policy is linked to a Microsoft Form that can be quickly completed by POC coordinators throughout the system. Responses to the form can be exported to an Excel spreadsheet and will supply emergency management with POC device-specific information, listing devices as battery operated, wireless capable, tabletop or hand-held and provides test menus. This spreadsheet allows coordinators to decide the number of devices and consumables that could be pooled from all facilities within the system. Conclusions Ninety-three percent of survey respondents acknowledged that they could potentially benefit from a POCT emergency preparedness policy. Increasing the number of POCT programs involved in emergency preparedness drills would improve response to emergency management challenges. The UPMC POCT Emergency Management Policy guides POC coordinators through situations, allowing them to pool resources to allow for the continuity of testing necessary for quality patient care.

Culture and political regimes: How have they influenced the effectiveness of COVID-19 response policy?

This study investigates the efficacy of national emergency response policies in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and their interactions with cultural and political factors. Employing the synthetic control method, we analyze data from countries on five continents that implemented such policies in early 2020. Our results indicate the overall effectiveness of these policies in mitigating the impact of COVID-19 yet reveal significant variability in their outcomes among countries. Notably, we identify a negative association between policy effectiveness and a culture characterized by individualism. Additionally, we observe that the impact of COVID-19 response measures is more prominent in countries with lower levels of democracy. These findings offer valuable insights into the intricate interplay between COVID-19 response policies, cultural dynamics, and political regimes, with potential implications for future policy decisions and research endeavors.

Uncovering human behavioral heterogeneity in urban mobility under the impacts of disruptive weather events

Understanding the response of human mobility to disruptive weather events is beneficial for the development of urban risk mitigation and emergency response policies, thus enhancing urban resilience. Most human mobility studies relying on aggregate flow data inevitably neglect the heterogeneity of disaggregate travel patterns with distinctive spatiotemporal characteristics, causing the uncertainty problem for identifying meaningful travel behaviors. Moreover, there is a lack of robust methodological approaches to extracting stable and genuine travel patterns under normal or disruptive situations. To address these issues, this study proposes a data-driven approach to spatiotemporal flow decomposition based on non-negative matrix factorization. With sparseness factored in the decomposition, stable disaggregate travel patterns can be extracted from origin-destination mobility flows. By combining temporal, spatial, and urban functional perspectives, heterogeneous travel behaviors can be analyzed and inferred. With a case study of the Zhengzhou ‘7.20’ heavy rainfall in 2021, the most extreme rainfall ever recorded in China, this study validated the effectiveness of the proposed approach and managed to identify representative and interesting travel patterns and behaviors, facilitating a better understanding of human travel behaviors under external impacts. In practice, this study can provide valuable insights for coping strategies in the face of increasingly frequent disruptive events.

Evaluasi Kebijakan BPBD Kabupaten Pangandaran dalam Upaya Pengurangan Risiko Bencana di Kabupaten Pangandaran

This study assesses the performance of the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) in Pangandaran Regency by analyzing its policies and reviewing disaster reduction reports. Utilizing a literature review method, with a focus on BPBD Pangandaran Regency's policy documents, the evaluation links the Strategic Plan (Renstra) to outcomes in the Performance Accountability Report (LAKIP). The Renstra outlines disaster prevention, emergency response, and post-disaster policies, translated into programs to enhance the region's disaster management capacity, measured by the Regional Resilience Index. Despite an improved index attributed to successful handling of 125 disasters in 2022, including fires, tornadoes, landslides, floods, and earthquakes, the study notes challenges such as a lack of updates in crucial documents and insufficient human resources impacting BPBD Pangandaran's performance. While the agency has achieved a 100% performance realization in various programs, attention to document updates and resource allocation is essential for more efficient disaster management in Pangandaran Regency.

The Wheel Is Already Invented: Planning for the Next Crisis

The development and implementation of pandemic response protocols for museum workers and visitors evolved over many months following the recognition of the SARS-CoV-2 virus as a major public health threat and crisis trigger. Initial response to the crisis in many museums was cessation of all activity and interaction with the public and with coworkers. Museum functions were suspended. Museums closed their doors to visitors and staff. Access to exhibits and collections was disrupted. Ensuring the safety of objects on display was difficult. The air we breathed, the objects we touched, the spaces we were in were all suspect as potential transmitters of the virus. As research was conducted on virus transmission, research results were incorporated into the development of reopening protocols for museums and museum collections allied with a university museum consortium. Case studies of the compilation, distribution, implementation, and reflection of pandemic response protocols within consortium member museums provide insight into including these crisis protocols for emergency response and collections management policies going forward.

The effects of COVID-19 event strength on job burnout among primary medical staff

BackgroundAs a global pandemic, The Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has brought significant challenges to the primary health care (PHC) system. Health professionals are constantly affected by the pandemic’s harmful impact on their mental health and are at significant risk of job burnout. Therefore, it is essential to gain a comprehensive understanding of how their burnout was affected. The study aimed to examine the relationship between COVID-19 event strength and job burnout among PHC providers and to explore the single mediating effect of job stress and work engagement and the chain mediating effect of these two variables on this relationship.MethodsMultilevel stratified convenience sampling method was used to recruit 1148 primary medical staff from 48 PHC institutions in Jilin Province, China. All participants completed questionnaires regarding sociodemographic characteristics, COVID-19 event strength, job stress, work engagement, and job burnout. The chain mediation model was analyzed using SPSS PROCESS 3.5 Macro Model 6.ResultsCOVID-19 event strength not only positively predicted job burnout, but also indirectly influenced job burnout through the mediation of job stress and work engagement, thereby influencing job burnout through the “job stress → work engagement” chain.ConclusionsThis study extends the application of event systems theory and enriches the literature about how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted PHC medical staff job burnout. The findings derived from our study have critical implications for current and future emergency response and public policy in the long-term COVID-19 disease management period.

Surviving the Immediate Aftermath of a Disaster: A Preliminary Investigation of Adolescents' Acute Stress Reactions and Mental Health Needs after the 2023 Turkey Earthquakes.

On 6 February, southeastern Turkey and parts of Syria were struck by two powerful earthquakes, one measuring a magnitude of 7.8 and the other, nine hours later, at a magnitude of 7.5. These earthquakes have been recorded as some of the deadliest natural disasters worldwide since the 2010 Haiti earthquake, impacting around 14 million people in Turkey. For trauma survivors, the stressors associated with an event can lead to the development of acute stress disorder (ASD) or other psychiatric disorders. Trauma experiences during adolescence can impact development and affect adolescents differently than adults. Although ASD in adults has been addressed in several studies, there is much less information available about how younger populations respond to acute stress. The aim of our study was to assess the occurrence of ASD among individuals seeking help at the Şanlıurfa Mehmet Akif İnan Research and Training Hospital Child and Adolescent Outpatient Clinic following the 2023 Turkey Earthquakes and the factors associated with acute stress reactions. A child and adolescent psychiatry specialist conducted psychiatric interviews with the adolescents, and the individuals were also asked to complete 'The National Stressful Events Survey Acute Stress Disorder Short Scale' (NSESSS) to evaluate acute stress symptoms. ASD diagnoses were established according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) criteria. Results showed that 81.6% of the participants (n = 49) were diagnosed with ASD, and drug treatment was initiated in 61.7% of the cases (n = 37). It was determined that ASD rates did not differ according to gender, and patients without physical injury had higher acute stress symptom scores (p > 0.05). According to the logistic regression models, paternal educational levels and adolescents' own requests for psychiatric assistance were predictors of acute stress disorder (OR 10.1, β = 2.31, p = 0.006 and OR 16.9, 95 β = 2.83, p = 0.001, respectively). Our findings revealed striking results in demonstrating the need for careful evaluation of adolescents without physical injury in terms of acute stress disorder and the need to pay close attention to the psychiatric complaints of adolescents willing to seek mental health assistance. Moreover, our study suggests that the proportion of adolescents experiencing acute stress symptoms after earthquakes might be higher than previously reported. Estimation of the incidence rate and symptoms of psychiatric distress in the short-term period following a disaster is important for establishing disaster epidemiology and implementing efficient relief efforts in the early stages. The outcomes of this study have the potential to yield novel insights into the realms of disaster mental health and emergency response policies, as well as their pragmatic implementations.

Implementation Of Earthquake, Tsunami, And Liquefaction Emergency Response Policies At Palu Municipality

This study aimed to describe the implementation of the emergency response policy for the earthquake, liquefaction, and tsunami disaster in Palu City which occurred on September 28, 2018. The research used a qualitative descriptive method, with 9 informants selected purposively. with the analytical method starting with data collection, condensing data, presenting data, and drawing conclusions or verification.

Self-revocation of nurse licences in Finland - nursing response to deteriorating workplace and patient safety: Implications for future nursing action.

To communicate trends in nurse licence revocation in Finland and examine policies and legislation that have implications for future nursing responses to workplace hazards. The causes of the shortage of nurses working in Finland are multifactorial and complex. Nurses are joining trade unions and taking industrial action in response to the devaluation of their profession and the underpayment of nurses during the pandemic. The Health Care Professions Act in Finland allows nurses to apply voluntarily to withdraw or revoke their licence using online digital tools - and many are doing so as a last resort. A declining nursing workforce is anticipated, with retiree trends increasing while nurse recruitment decreases over the next few decades. Nurses' remuneration and working conditions have suffered during the pandemic, and industrial actions organised by trade unions that include nurses have advocated for the policy and decision-making process to improve, but with mixed results. The process of how legislation enables licence revocation in Finland is essential to understanding this new phenomenon. Advocacy for nurses, who are disadvantaged within the current pandemic emergency response policy environment, is needed across every nursing context and every career stage. Without support, nurses confronted with precarious working conditions are more likely to draw attention to their plight by using recent legislation to revoke their nursing licences voluntarily. A revocation may be temporary or permanent. Nurses need advocates and mentors to address attrition issues around the voluntary withdrawal of licences. The situation in Finland offers trade unions and nursing associations an opportunity to validate their existence in society. Public displays of distress about the political undervaluing of the nursing profession discourage applications to study nursing and pursue a nursing career or remain in the nursing profession. International experience tells us that when proficient nurses exit the profession, the level of patient safety and health benefits and national productivity suffer. Finland's Nursing Act is an aspect of policy that needs exploring and the basis for amending policies to enable collective bargaining agreements to protect the rights and future of nurses. Reactive policies for recruiting foreign nurses to bolster a failed domestic nursing workforce policy have their own problems. These policy issues reflect the problems facing nurses worldwide.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on expectant and new parents’ experience of pregnancy, childbirth, breast feeding, parental responsiveness and sensitivity, and bonding and attunement in high-income countries: a systematic review of the evidence

ObjectivesTo review the evidence on how pregnancy, birth experience, breast feeding, parental responsiveness and sensitivity, and bonding and attunement were impacted by COVID-19.MethodsWe searched eight literature databases and websites of...

Why are Indigenous Affairs Policies Framed in ways that Undermine Indigenous Health and Equity?

The 2007 Australian Northern Territory Emergency Response policy was harmful to the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We thematically analysed 72 speech acts and reports from the three prominent perspectives: a Northern Territory government inquiry report, the Federal government, and an Aboriginal civil society coalition to examine how framings during the policy agenda setting phase constrained or supported scope for equitable health outcomes. The report authors and the coalition emphasised colonisation and other social determinants of Indigenous health. The Federal government used a discourse of pathology and white sovereignty. Our findings highlighted the need for Indigenous voice in policy making, and the need to address colonial assumptions underpinning policy framings to achieve Indigenous health equity.

Research on Emergency Response Policy for Public Health Emergencies in China-Based on Content Analysis of Policy Text and PMC-Index Model.

Policy is an important support for risk society to prevent and resolve crises. Based on the content analysis of the policy text and PMC-Index model, this paper takes texts of 327 public health emergency response policies (PHERP) at the central level in China from 1989 to 2022 as the analysis object, designs an indicator system, and combines qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate the existing policies. The results of content analysis indicate that current policy focuses on emergency rather than preventive control, the main policy-making and issuing authority is the Ministry of Health and policies are mostly issued in the form of notice. The PMC-Index of ten selected policies is all ranked above acceptable, which means that the overall quality of policy text is relatively high. However, the PMC-Surface shows that there is still considerable variability in the scores of the main indicators for each policy. The top three main scoring indicators are policy nature, policy evaluation and policy instrument, while the bottom three are policy time, policy release agency and policy target groups, which reminds us that the design of policy text can still be improved in terms of optimizing policy time, policy issuing institutions and expanding policy target groups. In response to these problems, this paper puts forward six suggestions for optimization.

The impact of governmental COVID‐19 measures on manufacturers' stock market valuations: The role of labor intensity and operational slack

This study investigates the impact of the Chinese government's Level I emergency response policy on manufacturers' stock market values. We empirically examine the roles of human resource dependence (labor intensity) and operational slack within the context of supply chain resilience. Through an event study of 1357 Chinese manufacturing companies, we find that the government's emergency response policy triggered statistically significant positive abnormal returns for manufacturers. However, we also find that there exists a negative impact on abnormal returns for manufacturers that are labor‐intensive, giving rise to arguments based in resource dependence theory. In addition, the results indicate the positive role played by operational slack (e.g., financial and inventory slack) in helping manufacturers maintain operations and business continuity, effectively mitigating risks and adding to the manufacturers' resilience. With these findings, we contribute to operations and supply chain management by calling attention to the importance of human resource redundancy while at the same time identifying financial slack and inventory as supply chain resilience strategies that were able to mitigate pandemic‐related risks.

Dynamic analysis of fire induced domino effects to optimize emergency response policies in the chemical and process industry

A fire accident is one the most dangerous accidents that may lead to knock-on effects, especially in the plants dealing with large quantities of hazardous substances. Different from other accidents, e.g., explosions, fires can last certain period of time and the thermal radiations emitted by them have a synergistic effect. At the same time, the heat-up of target installations under the effect of thermal radiation is also a process that takes a certain amount of time. These characteristics make fire induced domino effects a dynamic process. During an emergency response due to a fire accident, emergency personnel may arrive at the fire scene at different times, so they may face different accident situations. In this work, an adaptive timed Petri-net (ATPN) based approach is proposed to model the propagation of fires and perform a dynamic analysis of potential domino effects. The definition of ATPN as well as the enabling and execution rules is provided. Through simulations, not only the probabilities of fires in different installations, but also the probabilities of the fire extension propagated over time can be obtained. An example of a tank farm fire illustrates the approach. Our developed approach for carrying out a dynamic analysis of domino effects is helpful for emergency preparation.

Crisis Translation

The fields of disaster studies and crisis communication have been established for a long time. However, the role of translation in these fields has largely been overlooked until recently. A considerable body of research is now emerging that investigates translation as a crisis communication tool. This paper serves to provide a snapshot in time of the progress to date. A brief introduction to the disciplines of disaster studies and crisis communication is provided and crisis translation is situated at the nexus of these two areas. Following from this, the article considers the position of crisis translation in relation to topics of interest to translation studies scholars such as conflict, development, and community translation. Some of the main topics that have received recent attention to date, such as emergency response policy, translation technology, citizen translator training and ethics are then introduced. The lack of recognition of translation as a crisis communication tool in emergency response policies is called out and recommendations for such policies are highlighted. The essential role of volunteers in crisis response and how this relates to translation is discussed, along with the ethical considerations that need to be taken into account. The potential and challenges of translation technology to assist in all stages of crises is then elaborated. Taking a proposal for research directions in disaster studies, which outlines guiding principles and research thrusts, how translation studies can respond to that agenda is briefly considered. It is concluded that translation and interpreting research can contribute to the five ‘guiding principles’ of horizon scanning, interdisciplinarity, ethics, knowledge transfer and impact. Equally, crisis translation can also easily contribute to the five research ‘thrusts’ of justice, risk, habitation zones, data and technology, and infrastructure for humanity. Indeed, the work to date on crisis and translation has already made significant contributions to these topics, but there is considerable potential for further developments.

A switching dynamic model based on phased COVID-19 data in Chongqing and its evaluation.

ObjectivesAlthough COVID-19 has been controlled in China, the risk of invasion of imported cases remains. We aimed to characterize the impact of the number of imported cases and the implementation of first-level emergency response (FLER) policy.MethodsA SCQIHR switching model was constructed and verified by the complete phased data of COVID-19 in Chongqing in 2020. Then it was used to investigate the impact of the number of imported cases and the timing of FLER. Lastly, it was evaluated by three actual scenarios in Chongqing in 2021.ResultsThe proposed model can fit the multidimensional time series well. After the implementation of FLER, the mean effective reproduction number, contact rate and misdetection rate were decreased significantly, but the quarantine rate for close contacts and isolation rate for non-hospitalized infectious cases were increased significantly. The peaks of quarantined close contacts and hospitalized infectious cases increased linearly with the increase of the number of imported cases and the lag of FLER time, which was verified by three actual scenarios in Chongqing in 2021.ConclusionsThese findings can provide guidance for local public health policy-making and allocation of medical resources, reduce the impact of COVID-19 on the local population.

Fear, Isolation, and Invisibility during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study of Adults with Physical Disabilities in Marginalized Communities in Southeastern Michigan in the United States.

This study examines the initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adults with physical disabilities from marginalized communities in southeastern Michigan, one of the early pandemic epicenters in the United States. A purposeful sample of fifteen adults with moderate to severe physical disabilities were recruited, taking part in individual remote semi-structured qualitative interviews, which were recorded, transcribed, and coded for emergent themes using a thematic approach to coding and analysis. Three interrelated, overarching themes emerged: fear, feelings of isolation, and a sense of being invisible. These were identified in the contexts of health and healthcare, home care assistance, and access to resources. The findings help illuminate the experiences of those from socioeconomically and racially marginalized communities, populations that are often "always already" vulnerable. Participant narratives made visible the negative impact of the pandemic on physical and mental health as well as the lack of accommodations available. They showed that participants were faced with a dilemma between engaging in risky behavior to have their needs met or avoiding risk and not have those needs met. This knowledge can expand awareness and appreciation of how social, economic, and political systems impact adults with physical disabilities in lower-income and racially diverse communities and provide guidance in designing future clinical and emergency response policies.

COVID-19 and gender-based violence service provision in the United States.

IntroductionGender-based violence (GBV) policies and services in the United States (U.S.) have historically been underfunded and siloed from other health services. Soon after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, reports emerged noting increases in GBV and disruption of health services but few studies have empirically investigated these impacts. This study examines how the existing GBV funding and policy landscape, COVID-19, and resulting state policies in the first six months of the pandemic affect GBV health service provision in the U.S.MethodsThis is a mixed method study consisting of 1) an analysis of state-by-state emergency response policies review; 2) a quantitative analysis of a survey of U.S.-based GBV service providers (N = 77); and 3) a qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with U.S.-based GBV service providers (N = 11). Respondents spanned a range of organization types, populations served, and states.ResultsTwenty-one states enacted protections for GBV survivors and five states included explicit exemptions from non-essential business closures for GBV service providers. Through the surveys and interviews, GBV service providers note three major themes on COVID-19’s impact on GBV services: reductions in GBV service provision and quality and increased workload, shifts in service utilization, and funding impacts. Findings also indicate GBV inequities were exacerbated for historically underserved groups.DiscussionThe noted disruptions on GBV services from the COVID-19 pandemic overlaid long-term policy and funding limitations that left service providers unprepared for the challenges posed by the pandemic. Future policies, in emergency and non-emergency contexts, should recognize GBV as essential care and ensure comprehensive services for clients, particularly members of historically underserved groups.

U.S. agricultural university students' mental well-being and resilience during the first wave of COVID-19: Discordant expectations and experiences across genders.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic's first wave led to declining mental health and life satisfaction outcomes for college students, especially women. While women in undergraduate agricultural programs outperformed men academically prior to and during the pandemic, the achievement may have come at personal cost, especially for those women with fewer personal and environmental resiliency resources. Our research objective was to expand on personal, social, and environmental factors linked with lower mental health and life satisfaction scores for students in agriculture during the pandemic. We measured the influence of such factors across gender‐based mental health and life satisfaction outcomes. Our data were collected from 2030 students using an on‐line survey across six land‐grant university college of agriculture in agriculturally as many distinct regions of the United States. We estimated OLS and Ordered Probit models of their mental health and life satisfaction self‐assessments. Our findings reveal students' mental health and life satisfaction were reduced due to a paucity of personal (e.g., less future orientation or graduate school aspirations, food and housing insecurity, and personal health risks) and environmental (e.g., lower quality on‐line learning experiences, isolation, family health risk, discrimination experiences) resiliency resources. Our results suggest women were more likely than men to be adversely affected by reduced resiliency resources. These findings suggest university emergency response policies need to address students' needs for housing and food security, on‐line course development and delivery, tele health and mental health resources, broad social inclusion and diversity to decrease risk of female attrition and support all students in agricultural degree programs.