Frontline Warriors Research Articles

Strategic Role and Challenges of Community Pharmacists in SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak.

This study highlights the importance of community pharmacists’ strategic role in hindering the progression of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the community setting and innovative measures to protect themselves. This article focuses on the features, control, and prevention of COVID-19 and social awareness measures of the pandemic. The means employed by the community pharmacist to safeguard his health while providing pharmaceutical services during COVID-19 is compiled and presented to benefit health-care professionals around the world. As per the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, community pharmacists play a crucial role in providing essential drugs to patients without knowing their current COVID-19 status. They also work in conditions that make them susceptible to COVID-19 exposure. Despite the availability of guidelines, community pharmacists need to be trained in personal protective equipment for efficient protection and prevention of spread. Community pharmacists are essential frontline warriors against transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the community and act as frontline workers to educate the public on COVID-19. They are at high risk and need to observe necessary precautions to mitigate the spread of the virus.

General Anxiety Predictors among Frontline Warriors of COVID: Cross-Sectional Study among Nursing Staff in Punjab, Pakistan

COVID-19 pandemic has increased the generalized anxiety among nursing staff. This cross-sectional questionnaire-based study aimed to determine the generalized anxiety disorders among the nursing staff working in secondary and tertiary care hospitals in Punjab province, Pakistan. A GAD-7 scale was used to assess anxiety. Non-parametric statistics were applied to estimate the difference among the groups. Multiple regression model was adopted to explore the impact of covariates on the GAD-7 score.

A cross-sectional study of psychological distress among doctors' spouses during COVID-19

Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection and subsequent lockdown restrictions brought drastic changes in the lives of the people. Doctors' community led the fight against COVID-19 as frontline warriors leaving their families at home for prolonged periods. The psychological issues among the family members, particularly spouses of doctors, are significantly high and need special attention.Aims: We aimed to assess the level of psychological distress among doctors' spouses and the possible relationship between different variables and the level of the distress.Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in online mode using chain-referral sampling method. Sample size was 120 and comprises doctors' spouses who were not related to medical field. Those who were working in medical field or having any past psychological illness were excluded from the study. A semi-structured pro forma was used to collect the basic demographic details, and Kessler's Psychological Distress Scale (K10) was used to rate psychological distress.Results: 72.5% of the study population had reported psychological distress, and half of these participants reported severe psychological distress. Age was the single variable that had significance (P < 0.1), whereas other variables did not show statistically significant values.Conclusion: Psychological distress is much higher compared to the general population in the spouses of the doctors. In long run, this may result in psychological illnesses such as depression and anxiety disorders. As a special group, these require targeted interventions and care for the prevention of severe mental health problems.

Exploring Public Response to COVID-19 on Weibo with LDA Topic Modeling and Sentiment Analysis

It is necessary and important to understand public responses to crises, including disease outbreaks. Traditionally, surveys have played an essential role in collecting public opinion, while nowadays, with the increasing popularity of social media, mining social media data serves as another popular tool in opinion mining research. To understand the public response to COVID-19 on Weibo, this research collects 719,570 Weibo posts through a web crawler and analyzes the data with text mining techniques, including Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling and sentiment analysis. It is found that, in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, people learn about COVID-19, show their support for frontline warriors, encourage each other spiritually, and, in terms of taking preventive measures, express concerns about economic and life restoration, and so on. Analysis of sentiments and semantic networks further reveals that country media, as well as influential individuals and “self-media,” together contribute to the information spread of positive sentiment.

Assessment of the Knowledge Regarding Diabetes Mellitus in Medical Students of Nepal

INTRODUCTION &#x0D; Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder with a very high prevalence. Adequate knowledge about diabetes mellitus is essential for medical students as they are future frontline warriors for its management. In the present study, we have attempted to assess the knowledge of medical students related to various aspects of DM.&#x0D; MATERIAL AND METHODS&#x0D; In this cross-sectional study, 445 medical students studying in the Universal College of Medical Sciences (UCMS), Bhairahawa, Nepal were included. A total of 20 self-designed questionnaires regarding DM were used as a study tool. Each question was allocated a score of one making 20 the highest possible score. The students who scored 13 (65%) or more were regarded as having good knowledge, and those scoring below 13 were considered as having poor knowledge related to DM. Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 16 was used for data analysis.&#x0D; RESULTS&#x0D; Preclinical students were 309 (69.4%) and 136 (30.6%) clinical students. The mean knowledge score of the total participants were 13.54 ±3.68. The clinical students (16.23 ±2.26) were found to have better knowledge about DM than the preclinical students (12.36 ±3.56). Year wise evaluation showed that, on average, all except first-year students had good knowledge regarding DM, with the final year students having highest mean score (18.80 ±2.29). No significant difference in the knowledge was found between MBBS and BDS students.&#x0D; CONCLUSION&#x0D; The majority of the medical students had good basic knowledge regarding DM. Clinical students had significantly higher knowledge in comparison to preclinical students.

COVID-19: Korean nurses' experiences and ongoing tasks for the pandemic's second wave.

Nurses are the largest group of healthcare workers in the world, and during the COVID‐19 pandemic, nurses have been recognized worldwide as frontline warriors working hard to stem suffering, infection rates and deaths. Korean nurses experienced the effects of the pandemic earlier than in most other countries, and the work of our nurses has been recognized as a successful model in responding COVID‐19. In this paper, we share the experiences of Korean nurses, including their experiences of workload, acute shortages of staff and equipment and work overload, and suggest ongoing tasks that need to be addressed to combat the pandemic’s second wave and other possible waves. Specifically, the nursing issues relating to COVID‐19 are critically reviewed and recommendations for each issue are suggested in terms of nursing staffing, practice and policy, as well as health policy.

STRESS RELATED PSYCHOLOGICAL ISSUES IN POLICE PERSONNEL DURING COVID – 19 PANDEMIC WITH GUIDELINES OF COLOUR MEDITATION (LESHYA DHYAN): A SURVEY STUDY

The Coronavirus pandemic is the current pandemic of CoViD-19, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This is highly infectious disease and potentially fatal. Since there is no exact medicine, the whole world is surviving under the fear of death. But the most affected people in this pandemic are frontline warriors include Doctors, Nurses, paramedical staff, cleaning workers, pharmacist and police personnel. Amongst this, police personnel are doing their work everywhere including high risk area. Also, they didn’t get have expert knowledge of maintaining their psychological health. Therefore, A survey study was conducted by interacting with police personnel (n=30) to know the psychological issues they are suffering. A questionnaire was prepared, and data collected. After analyzing this data, it is found that police personnel are suffering from severe psychological stress with the anxiety related issues of sleep disturbance, digestive problems, loss of interest in work, increased irritability, loose in weight, headache, etc. As yoga is the foremost technique of reducing psychological stress, the technique of Colour meditation (Leshya Dhyan) was guided to police personnel at the time of survey study. Daily practice of colour mediation have beneficial effect to reduce psychological health.it helps in activation of parasympathetic nervous system which makes the people happier by reducing fight and flight activity. Hence, the study was planned, and it is appealed to police personal to practice colour meditation.

Knowledge, attitude and practices towards COVID-19 among healthcare workers of Karnataka, India: a cross-sectional survey

Background: COVID-19 is a Public health emergency of international concern which has affected over 213 countries infecting millions across the globe and also affected the economy worldwide. This study was conducted in Healthcare Workers as they are the frontline warriors in fighting this pandemic and their knowledge, attitude and practices towards the disease are valuable.Methods: Online cross sectional study was conducted on Healthcare Workers. A self-administered Google form was used to collect the data through social media. Data was analyzed using MS Excel. P&lt;0.05 was considered statistically significant obtained using SPSS version 22.Results: The mean age among the participants was 30.7±9.9 years. Majority were in the age group of 20-30 years (60.9%), followed by 31-40 years (18.9%), 41.-50 years (9.1%) and &gt;50 years (5.4%). 46.3% of the participants were females and 53.0% were males. 37.1% were doctors, 14.0% are nurses and 46.9% are paramedical staff. In the present study, Mean knowledge score is 5.86±1.32, mean attitude score is 6.48±0.93 and the mean practice score is 4.60±0.79, thus 95.7% of the participants have good knowledge and attitude, where as 90.3% have good practices towards COVID-19.Conclusions: The HCWs of Karnataka have good knowledge, positive attitude and good practices. To further improve their preparedness and response towards infectious diseases and pandemics mandatory training programs can be introduced, as such programs enhances knowledge and boosts confidence among HCWs which is very crucial in medical as well as public health emergencies.

Psychological impact of COVID-19 on doctors and medical undergraduate students in a government medical college in Uttar Pradesh, India

Background: COVID-19 wrath has influenced the socio economic, physical and mental health well-being of all the citizens. Doctors being at the frontline has been affected substantially by it. The paucity of literature on mental health impact of medical health professionals directed the present study to explore the Psychological Impact of COVID-19 on doctors and medical undergraduates.Methods: A cross section online survey was used for data collection. Socio demographic, COVID 19 related preventive practice, Oslo social support scale-3 (OSSS-3) for social support and impact of events scale-revised (IES-R) scale for assessment of psychological Impact was used. Data was analyzed using SPSS 23.Results: Overall 56 (36.36%) of the participants reported having psychological Impact of whom 25 (43.86%) doctors and 31 (31.96%) students were affected. The predictor variables as derived by the regression model were presence of comorbidity, poor social support and postings in isolation wards.Conclusions: Large scale longitudinal multicentric studies can provide a better picture of the actual magnitude of the mental health impact. The predictive factors should be taken into account for policy making decisions. Coping skills and mental health preparedness for the frontline warriors can be lifesaving and will uplift their morale for better delivery of healthcare services in a resource constrained setting.

Procedures in COVID-19 Patients: Part-I.

The number of cases with novel coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) infection is increasing every day in the world, and India contributes a substantial proportion of this burden. Critical care specialists have accepted the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and are frontline warriors in this war. They have worked hard in streamlining workflow isolation of positive patients, clinical management of critically ill patients, and infection prevention practices. With no end in sight for this pandemic, intensive care unit (ICU) practitioners, hospital administrators, and policy makers have to join hands to prepare for the surge in critical care bed capacity. In this position article, we offer several suggestions on important interventions to the ICU practitioners for better management of critically ill patients. This position article highlights key interventions for COVID-19 treatment and covers several important issues such as endotracheal intubation and tracheostomy (surgical vs PCT), nebulization, bronchoscopy, and invasive procedures such as central venous catheters, arterial lines, and HD catheters.How to cite this article: Pande RK, Bhalla A, SN Myatra, Yaddanpuddi LN, Gupta S, Sahoo TK, et al. Procedures in COVID-19 Patients: Part-I. Indian J Crit Care Med 2020;24(Suppl 5):S263–S271.

Death in the Line of Duty: Caregivers in the Plague narratives

The dystopian tropes in the plague narratives shift our gaze from the presence of professional ethics to the Gothic horror that unfolds subsequently. Yet whether it is the Great Plague of London in the year 1665, or the Novel Coronavirus in Mumbai in the year 2020, the rampant spread of the contagion and the associated dread bring into focus the selflessness of the caregivers, namely, the medical and the para-medic staff. Comparing the occurrences, one historical, the other still unfolding, this study examines the eery similarities that delineate contagion as metaphor, and the role of doctors in the pandemics. The aim is to find out what happens when the doctors stumble – to succumb to fear, to fall prey to diseases that flesh is subject to, or to violate the oath of Hippocrates. We intend to scrutinize if like soldiers on the battle-front, these frontline warriors also keep their tryst with death in the line of duty, or does History record otherwise. Whether the pestilence be classical or modern, the response of the caregivers is the cornerstone on which any society is grounded. The purpose of this study is to evaluate if courage in the face of disaster is still relevant in this age of anxiety, or does self-preservation win against ethics and morality. A close reading of Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year gives us an insight into the timelessness of such issues, especially in a world that is plagued with maladies of its own making.

Medical Social Service Officers and their contribution in COVID-19 Pandemic

Social workers perform diverse roles in a hospital setting. They constitute an important workforce extending help to patients for their varied needs. In the current pandemic as well, team of social workers worked round the clock to arrange for the resources and facilitated important hospital functions. They are the “unsung heroes” amongst the front line warriors who sometimes even do not get their due recognition.

Factors Affecting Performance of Healthcare Workers During COVID-19 in Pakistan

Healthcare workers are one of the most affected communities at the global level during the pandemic of COVID-19, and Pakistan is no exception. Pakistan allocates merely less than 1% of its GDP for the healthcare sector, that is why, in most of the cases, healthcare workers are bound to serve without adopting standard safety measures while dealing with patients. The need for proper Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) has been felt more than ever during the occurrence of COVID-19 due to its quick transferability from an infected person to a healthy one. Until now, some 62 healthcare workers, including 42 doctors, have lost their lives and 5,367 have contracted coronavirus. Healthcare workers already serving without PPEs went under serious life threat after the coronavirus pandemic, and this fear has adversely affected their role as frontline warriors against COVID-19. In the given scenario, healthcare workers have not only to be worried about their own lives but also their families back at home. The current study aims at investigating variables such fears of healthcare workers about contracting coronavirus, its adverse effects on their performance, and resultantly the provision of compromised healthcare services to patients. This is mainly a qualitative study, whereas primary data were collected through telephonic interviews of 30 healthcare workers (15 doctors and 15 nurses) currently performing their duties in healthcare centres. Sources of secondary data include online journal articles, daily newspapers, government reports, and official websites. The findings of the study show that lack of proper safety kits and training of preparedness and safety has put the lives of healthcare workers at high risk and they are unable to perform their duties in the proper/appropriate way owing to their exposure to the risk of contracting coronavirus. The healthcare workers are conflicted about serving and saving the patients or securing their own lives.

Nursing Contribution to Cope COVID-19 Infection with Courage and Compassion

The advent of COVID-19 pandemic has suddenly changed the world and influenced the nursing profession as well. Nurses were among the first group of “COVID duty frontline warriors.” We briefly report the organization of services for the management of COVID affected or suspected patients at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital. The experiences of some of the nurses are described, highlighting their various problems when caring for these patients.

O Papel do Técnico Superior de Radiologia em Contexto de Pandemia COVID-19: Uma Revisão da Literatura

Apesar do papel predominante que os Técnicos de Radiologia desempenham no Serviço Nacional de Saúde, que tarda em ser devidamente reconhecido, e das diversas lutas que têm enfrentado na tentativa de obtenção de uma carreira mais digna e justa, seria inimaginável que viessem a travar uma luta totalmente diferente, contra um vírus desconhecido (COVID-19). Devido à sua extrema velocidade de propagação e incidência pandémica, houve a necessidade de adaptarem as práticas e serviços, de forma a minimizar o risco de infeção. Assim, o presente documento pretende identificar as evidências disponíveis na literatura relacionadas com o âmbito de atuação dos Técnicos de Radiologia e as estratégias adotadas de forma a minimizarem o risco de infeção. Através de uma revisão da literatura realizada nas bases de dados Scopus, ScienceDirect, Pubmed e Scielo, com recurso a diversos descritores de pesquisa, obteve-se um resultado final de 25 documentos, os quais foram analisados através de uma versão adaptada da Critical Appraisal Skills Programme. As evidências identificam diversos enfoques organizacionais nos departamentos de radiologia e nas práticas adotadas pelos Técnicos de Radiologia, com o objetivo de darem uma resposta adequada e segura no atual contexto pandémico. A consciencialização e o domínio dos procedimentos de proteção pelos Técnicos de Radiologia são referidos como prioritários, os quais devem ser obtidos através de treino e formação adequada. Os Técnicos de Radiologia estão, inevitavelmente, na linha da frente na luta contra a COVID-19 e têm desempenhando um papel insubstituível na prestação de cuidados de saúde.

Personal Protective Equipment: Challenges and Strategies to Combat COVID-19 in India: A Narrative Review

The current outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become a pandemic. All COVID-19-affected countries in the world are implementing containment interventions and trying their best to fight against the disease to halt the further spread of the infection and to reduce mortality. The public health workforce and healthcare staff in clinical settings are playing a crucial role in the early detection of cases, contact tracing and treatment of patients. The availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) and their consistent, proper use by healthcare providers and public health professionals is a crucial factor in combating any infectious disease in a crisis. The requirement of PPE has exponentially increased, as more and more countries are experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic. The rapid spread of the pandemic has created a temporary shortage of PPE in many countries, including India. The lack of PPE has affected the morale of healthcare workers (HCWs) and other frontline warriors in fighting the coronavirus disease, as more than 22,000 health workers in 56 countries have suffered from COVID-19. Some of them have succumbed to it across all countries, including India (WHO). We have reviewed the available literature to understand the challenges in ensuring adequate availability and consistent use of PPE and the strategies for the rational use of PPE in India. Our study reveals that India has responded swiftly to enhance the accessibility of PPE and put in place strategies for the judicious use of PPE to reduce the incidence of the COVID-19 infection to a bare minimum in healthcare settings. In the present article, we report the current status of COVID-19 among HCWs. We have reviewed the challenges and the surge strategies adopted by India to produce or procure good-quality PPE and supply it to all service delivery points in adequate quantities.

How to Help Our Frontline Warriors in COVID-19 Pandemic: an Initiative by Delhi State Chapter, ASI.

How to Help Our Frontline Warriors in COVID-19 Pandemic: an Initiative by Delhi State Chapter, ASI.

Aerosol Containment Box.

In the pandemic situation created by COVID-19, which is a fast spreading human-to-human transmittable disease, it is essential to protect health care providers. They are frontline warriors who fight this disease by treating patients and are most vulnerable to the same disease. In the current scenario, it is required to come up with innovative solutions to protect health care providers, such innovations should be made in to usable products with limited resources available due to lock down condition prevailing in the market and should be provided to them instantly. Main routes of infection of COVID-19 disease are, direct contact with objects that has virus on it and indirect contact by inhaling droplets emitted through sneezes and cough of patients. Healthcare providers can avoid direct contact with objects having virus by using proper PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). However, they are at risk of transmissions by microscopic aerosol particles consisting of the residual solid components of evaporated respiratory droplets, which are tiny enough (< 5 μm) to remain airborne for hours created by cough and sneeze. Authors have come with such a solution, called as ‘Aerosol Containment Box’ that act as barrier to safeguard health care providers from viral infection while performing medical procedures. It is made of transparent acrylic box, and covers COVID-19 patient from head up to chest. This box has to be placed on the body of the patient while he is being treated. This box is of low cost, can be made easily with limited resources and can be re-used after disinfection. This box is conceptualized, designed, manufactured, engineered and demonstrated within a record duration of 3 days. 100 nos of such boxes are made within 15 days and are distributed at various hospitals in Hyderabad. Engineering drawings and manufacturing process are documented and shared with outstation enthusiastic manufacturers.

COVID-19 Pandemic & Skin Care Guidelines for Health Care Professionals.

The Novel corona virus is bringing multiple challenges for health care professionals. Skin is the biggest organ and the first line of defense against different infections and external factors. Being the front line warriors, health care professionals are susceptible to various skin conditions due to prolonged use of personal protective equipment. These adverse skin conditions are redness, irritation, itching, contact dermatitis, and aggravation of underlying skin conditions like seborrheic dermatitis and acne vulgaris. In the current global situation, the potential incidence of such adverse dermatological effects does not in any manner cause the HCPs to deviate from the strict specific precautionary hygiene rules. These skin problems are manageable with the few precautionary measures. This article explores the different skin conditions that result from personal hygiene measures and usage of protective gear and will suggest some practical advice about how to manage and protect from these different adverse skin conditions.

Challenges and Threats due to Deadly Corona Virus in India and Dealing it with Social Vaccine (distancing) - the Only Weapon

The whole world is, presently, reeling under a serious crisis due to wide spread of a very unique and deadly corona virus. It is said to have originated from China and spread over more than 200 countries across the world. There have been reports of high mortality and morbidity in China, Spain, Italy, USA, UK and France due to wide spread of this dangerous and contagious disease. Unfortunately, this war is being fought by the frontline warriors i.e. doctors, nurses, health workers, sanitary staff but, with no real weapon presently, as no drug or vaccine has been found effective to deal with this deadly virus. The spread/ transmission cycle is very fast due to its very highly contagious nature and fast multiplication. Though, India has made all concerted efforts from the very beginning with all proactive actions and preparedness to deal with the situation due to coronavirus, yet it is becoming a Challenging task in some hotspots due to lack of social distancing or lockdown by some people in the community. The first phase of lockdown in the whole country started on 25th March for 21 days in order to break down the chain of transmission. However, due to its spread in some hotspots, it has been extended for another 19 days so as to well control the clusters and to prevent further spread. In an address to the Nation, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Hon. Health Minister of India stressed the need of social distancing and lockdown as comprehensive strategy for prevention and break the chain of transmission for coronavirus and term social distancing as “social vaccine” besides other measures being taken for diagnosis and treatment. An attempt has been made in this manuscript to describe the challenges and threats caused by deadly corona virus in India with the benefits of social vaccine (distancing)-the only weapon to prevent and break the transmission. How to cite this article:Sharma SN, Singh SK. Challenges and Threats due to Deadly Corona Virus in India and Dealing it with Social Vaccine (distancing) - the Only Weapon. J Commun Dis 2020; 52(1): 7-13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24321/0019.5138.202002