Pillars Of Safety Research Articles

Validating perceptions with clinical measures: A latent growth curve on the associations between patient experience and hospital-associated infections in Norway over time.

The aim of the study was to examine the parallel relationships between the growth rates of patient-reported experiences and hospital-associated infections (HAIs) over time. The study employed five waves (years) of data among hospitals across Norway from the Norwegian Health Directorate website for both patient experience and HAIs. The study employed a longitudinal design, testing and comparing different models. A latent growth curve model with autoregressions emerged as the best fit for the data. The data extracted from the website included 102 hospitals. However, the study used 61 hospitals after data cleaning, each with 400 patient respondents for each year. The results showed that for both patient experiences and HAIs, hospitals that recorded higher scores at the starting point experienced a lower growth rate over time compared to hospitals that recorded lower infections at the starting point. Second, it was found that the starting point for patient experience significantly related to the starting point for HAIs, such that the higher the score for patient experience, the lower the score on infections across hospitals. The results also indicated that almost all lagged effects on either patient-reported experience or HAIs were significant. This study shows the significance of patient experience, not only for patient-reported outcomes but also for clinical outcomes. This thus ascertains the relevance of the patient experience pillar for the other pillars of quality health care, namely, clinical effectiveness and safety.

The Pillars of Safety: Unveiling the Impact of Medication Usage on Public and Patient Wellbeing

Background: The comprehensive management of various health conditions within the community is heavily reliant on the crucial role of medications. Objective: The primary objective of this research is to investigate medication usage patterns, adherence, and associated factors among a diverse participant pool. The study aims to assess the prevalence of prescription medication use, consumption patterns, adherence rates, and the methods employed by participants for managing their medicines. Furthermore, the study explores participants' experiences with side effects and evaluates their satisfaction with prescribed treatments. Methods: A prospective cross-sectional design was employed for data collection, utilizing a self-administered Medication Usage Survey distributed through Google Forms. Participants were recruited through various channels, and data were collected anonymously. Results: A total of 103 participants contributed to the study, with a diverse demographic composition. The majority identified as female (60.19%), and participants spanned various age groups, reflecting a comprehensive representation. Geographically, the study included participants from multiple locations, with Bengaluru being the predominant location (80.58%). Participants reported diverse health conditions, with 69 individuals (66.99%) on prescription medications. Consumption patterns revealed that 57.3% took medications daily, while adherence varied, with 36.9% reporting missed doses. Side effects were reported by a small percentage (12.66%) of participants, and various methods were employed for managing medicines. Overall, treatment satisfaction varied among participants. Conclusion: This research provides valuable insights into medication usage patterns and associated factors among a diverse participant pool.

Extended reality and metaverse technologies for industrial training, safety and social interaction

The metaverse concept has become much more relevant in recent years. The three pillars of industrial training, safety, and social interaction are the framework around which this article organises evaluates research into extended reality and metaverse technologies. It illustrates how diverse approaches may be used across various applications by highlighting its potential to enhance knowledge acquisition, work protection and well-being, and social engagement in industrial settings. To fully realise the potential of metaverse technologies, further study is necessary to address identified problems, including privacy concerns and the need for adapted policies to guarantee successful acceptance and implementation.

Feeding the Future: Achieving Food Security in Malaysia Through Trade Mechanism

Malaysia’s food imports have almost doubled in 10 years, from RM35 billion to RM63 billion in 2021. In total, 26 food items have a self-sufficiency ratio (SSR) of 100% or above, according to the Supply and Utilization Accounts of Selected Agricultural Commodities, Malaysia, from the Department of Statistics (DOSM), but 24 other products still fall short of this mark. Moreover, Malaysia showed progress in the Global Food Security Index (GFSI) in 2021, moving up from the 48th rank (67.9 points) in 2020 to the 41st place (69.9 points) in 2022. Malaysia still has problems with food security, despite these encouraging signs. By employing a desktop research technique and secondary data from papers and publications, this concept paper seeks to investigate the landscape and trajectory of food security in Malaysia from 2017 to 2022. Further analysis is carried out on food security by focusing on the use of trade mechanisms in the four pillars of affordability, availability, quality and safety, sustainability, and adaptation. The analysis found that Malaysia faces several challenges in achieving food security, including increasing dependence on food imports, declining agricultural productivity, and income inequality. However, Malaysia has also made important strides toward enhancing food security, including diversifying its import sources, enhancing accessibility through price regulation, and intensifying its use of agricultural technologies.

Quantifying Radiation Doses in Common Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography Scenarios: An Evaluation of Radiation Safety Measures in a Real-World Environment

Introduction Radiation safety training remains variable among gastroenterologists performing endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). This study sought to ascribe dosimeter readings to various real-world ERCP scenarios to provide data supporting the 3 pillars of radiation safety: distance, time, and shielding. Methods An ERCP fluoroscopy unit was used to generate radiation scatter from 2 differently sized anthropomorphic phantoms. Radiation scatter was measured at various distances from the emitter, with and without a lead apron, and at various frame rates (measured in frames per second, fps) and degrees of fluoroscopy pedal actuation. An image quality phantom was used to assess resolution at various frame rates and air gaps. Results Increasing the distance resulted in a decrease in measured scatter (from 0.75 mR/h at 1.5 ft to 0.15 mR/h at 9 ft with the average phantom and from 50 mR/h at 1.5 ft to 3.06 mR/h at 9 ft with the large phantom). Depressing the fluoroscopy pedal less frequently, or decreasing the frame rate (ie, increasing the time per frame), resulted in a linear decrease in scatter (from 55 mR/h at 8 fps to 24.5 mR/h at 4 fps and 13.60 mR/h at 2 fps). Providing shielding through the presence of a 0.5-mm lead apron reduced scatter (from 4.10 to 0.11 mR/h with the average phantom; from 15.30 mR/h to 0.43 mR/h with the large phantom). However, decreasing the frame rate from 8 fps to 2 fps did not change the number of line pairs identified on the image phantom. A greater air gap increased the number of line pairs resolved. Conclusions Implementing the 3 pillars of radiation safety led to a quantifiable, clinically significant decrease in radiation scatter. The authors hope that these findings spark greater implementation of radiation safety measures among practitioners utilizing fluoroscopy.

Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs): Navigating Four Pillars of Safety, Development, Supply Chain and Manufacturing Excellence

Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs): Navigating Four Pillars of Safety, Development, Supply Chain and Manufacturing Excellence

Understanding the impacts of floods on learning quality, school facilities, and educational recovery in Indonesia.

This research is among the first pieces of work to use the comprehensive school safety (CSS) framework to assess the impacts of floods on quality learning and education infrastructure. The CSS framework is employed here to identify the level of disruption to education services following floods in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2013. The paper poses three key questions, concerning: (i) disruption to children's access to quality education during the flood emergency in 2013 and the early recovery phase; (ii) the impact of the floods on a school's physical infrastructure; and (iii) the effectiveness and level of success of the 2013 flood responses by relevant stakeholders. Combining quantitative and qualitative strategies, the paper examines the experiences of 100 schools in Jakarta. The findings suggest that the CSS framework offers a more nuanced approach to assessing post-disaster education needs. Moreover, it is also relevant for examining the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and relative losses in the education sector.

‘I Just Want to Go Home’: Emotional Wellbeing Impacts of COVID-19 Restrictions on VFR Travel

The COVID-19 global pandemic has had a profound impact on the taken-for-granted familial connections bound up in VFR travel. This paper examines the emotional impacts on diasporic migrants who could not travel to their homeland for extended periods of time. It considers pre-pandemic VFR patterns and assesses new meanings attributed to post-pandemic renewed travel. The lived experiences, patterns and emotions of seventy mainly UK-based participants were examined in this study. The research approach used both Maslow’s hierarchy of needs analysis and Urry’s tourist-gaze as conceptual frames for assessing these emotional experiences. The research showed that for many diasporas, the need to travel home is central to a sense of personal and place-identity as well as emotional security. The impacts of the pandemic in terms of wellbeing and emotional health were keenly felt by study respondents. Furthermore, contrary to much prior VFR research, this pandemic related study showed that in this instance, it is the “people” of VFR rather than just the “place” (of home) that are most valued. The removal of the right to VFR travel reinforced the centrality of family connections, especially in times of crisis. A mindful, VFR gaze emerges, rooted deeply in Maslow’s basic human needs pillars of safety, love and belonging. This was shown to be a highly tuned post-COVID-19 gaze, where familiar touchstones of home helped to restore depleted emotions through performances and practices of connectivity. The unique global pandemic experience of a world full of migrant mobile diaspora brought to an abrupt halt, emphasizes the need for tourism research to focus on the emotions embedded in the inherent human-place connections of VFR travel. The longitudinal-temporal legacy of COVID-19 on this form of tourism requires future research attention for both the tourism industry and tourists themselves.

HUMAN APPROACH IN THE IMPLEMENTING HEALTH PROTOCOLS FOR WORKERS SAFETY IN THE ENGINEERING OF OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY DURING THE PANDEMIC COVID 19

The safety of workers in the oil and gas industry during the COVID-19 pandemic has become a serious public concern. It is known, the oil and gas industry is one of the sectors with a large number of workers who are positively infected with the Covid 19 virus. This has led to the implementation of several pillars of work safety for oil and gas industry workers. One of these pillars is the human approach. The human approach in implementing health protocols has a fairly effective role, especially for the safety of workers in operational systems or industrial engineering. A literature review that focuses on several important points, namely: (1) how is the safety of workers in the oil and gas industry engineering sector during the covid 19 pandemic? (2) What is the function of the human approach pillar in the application of worker safety health protocols in the oil and gas industry engineering sector during the COVID-19 pandemic? Several aspects must be considered in the engineering section of the oil and gas industry by identifying installations and equipment, safe work practices, change management, integrated management, environmental management, industrial health and hygiene, contractor management, operations management, and others. While the pillars of the human approach that are of concern in implementing the health protocol are coaching and training, work competence, supervision, ergonomics, building awareness and interaction in the fields of health, work safety, building a safety culture, and building safe behavior at work.

Implementation of comprehensive school safety: the risk reduction and resilience education pillar in State Senior High School 1 of Pacitan and Islamic State Senior High School 1 of Pacitan, Indonesia

Pacitan is vulnerable to earthquakes and tsunamis because it is located near the subduction zone between the Indo-Australian and Eurasian plates. So that it needs Disaster Risk Reduction efforts, one of the best measures is to implement the three pillars of Comprehensive School Safety. This study aims to analyze the implementation of the third pillar of Comprehensive School Safety, namely the Pillar of Risk Reduction and Resilience Education. The study was conducted at State Senior High School 1 of Pacitan and Islamic State Senior High School 1 of Pacitan because they directly face the Indian Ocean. This study used a quantitative approach with primary data obtained from filling out questionnaires by respondents. Respondents in this study were principals, teachers, and students involved in Scouting and Junior Red Cross in these two schools. The instrument was a questionnaire including teacher and education staff training, integration of disaster education into the curriculum, and extracurricular activities indicators. The results indicated that teacher and education staff and curriculum integration were not optimally carried out in these two schools. Furthermore, they have not yet established disaster mitigation extracurricular, but implementing disaster mitigation education was carried out through Scouts and Junior Red Cross.

Extraction of phenolic compounds from oregano using high voltage electrical discharges–sustainable perspective

SummaryThe aim of the study was to observe the sustainability parameters of high voltage electrical discharge (HVED) as a novel technology for extraction of phenolic compounds from oregano. The life cycle assessment (LCA) of HVED was evaluated and compared with conventional extraction methods–infusion and maceration. The results showed that HVED extraction with nitrogen gave 2.19%–34.04% higher yield of phenolic compounds compared to infusion and 6.13%–90.95% higher yield compared to maceration, depending on the voltage and treatment time used for HVED. The environmental pillar of LCA, assessed by global warming potential, ranged from 1.130 to 4.635 kg CO2e for HVED samples treated with nitrogen and from 1.207 to 4.487 kg CO2e for samples treated with argon, which was mainly related to the duration of treatment. Other pillars of sustainability, namely society, economy, food safety and quality, were discussed. HVED was found to be the more sustainable technology (based on the results from LCA), with prospects for future scale‐up for the food industry.

Future Role of the Clinical Lab in Population Health.

Future Role of the Clinical Lab in Population Health.

Safety indicators as a basis for increasing the resilience of critical infrastructure

The article discusses the results of research in the field of critical infrastructure protection. The resilience research is aimed at creating a framework for the assessment of static resilience. The complexity of the solution should be given by the framework, which derives from the pillars of safety. The aim is to create technical prerequisites for a possible dynamic assessment of the resilience of critical infrastructure facilities.

The Impact of the Age of the Vehicle Fleet on Traffic Safety - Vehicle as the Third Pillar of Traffic Safety

Traffic accidents are, today, accepted as a global problem and activities are being undertaken to adapt and transfer successful practices from the most developed countries to underdeveloped and developing countries. The impact of a road transport system is so significant that its safety or lack of safety affects a wide range of social needs. Road safety or mobility without risk of death or injury affects health, poverty, equality, the environment, employment, education, gender equality and the sustainability of communities. Many nations around the world have improved the effect of pillar interventions by applying them selectively and strategically in accordance with the principles of the safe system approach. The safe system approach addresses problems closer to their root cause and on a broader level than conventional methods. The five pillars of road safety identified in the Global Plan for the Decade of Action 2011-2020 include a set of evidence-based interventions that can measurably improve road safety. Preparation and adoption of strategic documents - a traffic safety system development policy and strategy is a great way to demonstrate traffic safety management. The most important common denominator for all successful traffic safety practices is science-based strategic traffic safety management, which has clear, honest and publicly expressed political support. The paper presents the analysis of the third pillar „safer vehicles“ and its influence on the approach of the safe system from different aspects.

Qualitative Approach to Environmental Risk Assessment in Transport.

The purpose of this paper is to present the development of a qualitative approach to environmental risk assessment (QAERA) in transport. The approach is described as a model developed for the future software tool which will be utilizable as a risk decision support system. The basic part is aimed on developing a quantitative environmental risk assessment. Thus, this paper describes a set of 6 pillars of safety and security. Accordingly, the paper contains both chosen safety and security indicators and selected criteria for assessing the risk of launching the environmental change of global model thinking in the transport sector. The environmental risk assessment as a global model of thinking was originally based on historical experience but, nowadays, it is changing. Based on new expert knowledge, more precisely, on input of new global data, paper displays an environmental risk assessment with actual interpretation. The discussion of the paper is oriented to support research results, a new knowledge-oriented approach to global climate changes, using suitable risk assessment methods and technics. The result of the paper is a new approach for the modeling of environmental risk assessment in the transport sector.

Advanced numerical simulation and modelling for reactor safety − contributions from the CORTEX, HPMC, McSAFE and NURESAFE projects

Predictive modelling capabilities have long represented one of the pillars of reactor safety. In this paper, an account of some projects funded by the European Commission within the seventh Framework Program (HPMC and NURESAFE projects) and Horizon 2020 Program (CORTEX and McSAFE) is given. Such projects aim at, among others, developing improved solution strategies for the modelling of neutronics, thermal-hydraulics, and/or thermo-mechanics during normal operation, reactor transients and/or situations involving stationary perturbations. Although the different projects have different focus areas, they all capitalize on the most recent advancements in deterministic and probabilistic neutron transport, as well as in DNS, LES, CFD and macroscopic thermal-hydraulics modelling. The goal of the simulation strategies is to model complex multi-physics and multi-scale phenomena specific to nuclear reactors. The use of machine learning combined with such advanced simulation tools is also demonstrated to be capable of providing useful information for the detection of anomalies during operation.

Repülőterek felmérése, elektronikus terep- és akadály adatgyűjtés

A repülési ágazat fejlődése folyamatos jellegű. A repülésbiztonság egyik alappillére az akadályadatokat tartalmazó adatbázis, amelyet a nemzetközi irányelveknek megfelelően nem elég csupán szinten tartani, hanem fokozni is kell annak megbízhatóságát. A legmodernebb technológiák ehhez nagymértékben hozzájárulnak. Ilyen például az elektronikus terep- és akadály-adatgyűjtés, angol nyelven és rövidítve eTOD (electronic Terrain- and Obstacle Data Collection). A folyamat alapja merevszárnyú repülőgéppel történő légi távérzékelés. A repülőgéppel gyűjtött adatokból előállított pontfelhő és a geoinformatikai szoftverek segítségével kinyert információk a szigorúan definiált terep- és akadályadatok adatbázisaiba rendezhetők, amelyek jellegét olyan nemzetközi szabványok és dokumentumok szabályozzák, amelyeknek megfelelve nemzetközi szinten alkalmazható lesz az akadály-adatbázis. Az adathalmazokra nemcsak amiatt van szükség, mert rendeletek megkövetelik azok meglétét, hanem azért, mert különféle repülőgépes eljárások tervezésének alapját képezik, és nagymértékben hozzájárulnak a biztonságos légi közlekedéshez.

Multi-objective Optimization of Succinic Acid Production from Empty Fruit Bunch

Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) produced in plantation mill activities in Malaysia creates a major disposal problem. On the other hand, sustainability issues have driven industries to overcome the depletion of fossil fuels and reduction of greenhouse gases emissions. Therefore, as a renewable source, EFB can be an attractive option to address the above problems by converting it into fuels and chemicals. Succinic acid, one of 12 chemical building blocks identified by DOE to be used in synthesis of high-value materials, can be produced from biochemical conversion of the EFB. The present study evaluates succinic acid production process using EFB as the raw material from the perspective of three pillars of sustainability, namely economic, environment, and safety. Flowsheet modeling and techno-economic analysis methods are applied, followed by a multi-objective optimization using genetic algorithm method that simultaneously accounts for maximization of Net Present Value (NPV) and minimization of both Global Warming Potential (GWP) and Toxicity Damage Index (TDI). The pareto frontier reveals a trade-off among all objectives that the maximum NPV is 1,619 MMSD at the maximum EFB of 71,900 kg/hour. Meanwhile, the minimum GWP (12.4 kg CO2-eq/kg succinic acid) and TDI (4.5) are acquired at the minimum EFB of 50,000 kg/hour.

Implementing Infection Prevention and Control Programs When Resources Are Limited

There have been established at least four pillars of patient safety viz., healthcare-associated infection prevention and control (IPC), surgical safety, medication safety, and patient communication. It has always been challenging to design, implement, and monitor the functioning of such pillars especially when resources are limited. The trained human resource is most precious of all followed by infrastructure, consumables, and continuous training. The establishment of “IDEAL framework” recommended elsewhere is the approach to achieve “optimal minimal” patient safety goal; however, simple steps with the limited resources can help improve the patient outcomes and safe work environment in healthcare setting. The program may not be comprehensive initially, and step-wise expansion of program can be planned based on available resources and buying-in from various stakeholders in the healthcare units. Involvement of leadership in the implementation of the IPC program can be the key driver of the program. The program can be initiated in one of the key high-risk areas (e.g., intensive care units or operating room complex) and then can be expanded to other units. Meticulous capturing of healthcare-associated infection (HAI) indicators and their regular feedback brings credibility to the program and help other people to take ownership of the program. This review highlights the basic components of designing, implementation, and monitoring of IPC program when resources are limited.

Teamwork, Safety, and Non-Technical Skills

Communication and team dynamics have been widely accepted as pillars of safety in the operating room setting and beyond, yet institutions still struggle with establishing a culture of safety that promotes these skills. Team training programs, prompted conversations embedded within workflows, and cognitive aids such as checklists can enhance communication and promote these non-technical skills. In this review, we describe the importance of non-technical skills in preventing patient harm and provide an overview of team training programs and checklists as methods to enhance patient safety.