Safe Communication Research Articles

Investigation of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Personal Protection Among Different Types of Workers Returning to Work Under COVID-19 Epidemic.

Background: Since the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) world pandemic, it has had a significant negative impact on the economy and employment. The orderly resumption of work and production is an important factor in reducing the impact of the COVID-19 and an important guarantee of social and economic stability. The study aimed to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and practice (KAP) of people returning to work about personal protection under the COVID-19 world pandemic.Methods: During March 2020, based on WeChat, QQ and other internet platforms, online questionnaire survey was conducted by the convenience sampling method. SPSS version 20.0 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) was used for statistics analysis. Descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to analyze the data.Results: A total of 302 valid questionnaires was collected, and the valid response rate was 86.7%. About knowledge, people who return to work had the highest awareness rate of safe communication distance and the lowest awareness rate of exposure risk levels in different workplaces. The average scores of respondents in different occupations were higher than 95 in terms of personal protective attitude. In terms of practice, the average scores of respondents in different occupations were higher than 90 points. Multiple linear regression results showed that education and place of residence were the influencing factors of knowledge, while gender was the influencing factor of practice.Conclusion: The awareness of prevention and control among the 302 participants was good. There were differences in personal protection knowledge among different occupational groups, but there were no differences in attitude and practice. Our findings were of great significance to improve the pertinence of COVID-19 prevention programs.

QoS Improvement in MANET using Self Organized Balanced Optimization

The provision of quality of service (QoS) for routing in MANET (mobile ad hoc networks) is a major challenge due to the topology, bandwidth sharing and resource scarcity in wireless nodes. Another key aspect of distributing QoS is security, as malicious nodes pose all variety of threats to MANETs. Although a variety of MANET defense measures have been suggested, most solutions are only successful for a particular form of attack or provide security at the risk of sacrificing QoS. A trust-based, secure QoS routing scheme is proposed in this paper by incorporating trust between social and QoS. The key solution of the proposed scheme focuses on minimizing nodes that show different abuses of packet forwarding and finding the way that through the trust mechanism, safe communication is ensured. The performances are compared in in terms of QoS parameters, as channel quality, residual energy, link quality, etc.

The Parameters Comparison of the “Starlink” LEO Satellites Constellation for Different Orbital Shells

Communications-integrated satellite-terrestrial networks used for global broadband services have gained a high degree of interest from scientists and industries worldwide. The most convenient structures for such use are low Earth orbit satellites, since they fly closer to the Earth compared to the other orbits, and consequently provide significantly lower latency, which is essential for reliable and safe communications. Among these efforts is the Starlink satellites constellation, developed and partly deployed by the United States Company SpaceX. The constellation is planned to be organized in three spatial shells, each of them made up of several hundreds of small-dimensioned and light-weighted low Earth orbit specially designed satellites to provide broadband services, intending to offer global Earth coverage through their interoperability, combined also with the ground stations as a part of the satellite-terrestrial integrated network. By October 24, 2020, 893 satellites are situated in orbit of altitudes of 550 km under different inclinations, determining the first Starlink orbital shell. Two next generations are planned to be situated at altitudes of 1,110 and 340 km, to complete the appropriate infrastructure of three Starlink satellite shells, toward a global presence of broadband internet services. These three orbital shells offer different space views seen from the ground station (user) because of their different altitudes, thus in this paper a few parameters which describe the satellite’s behavior considered from the ground station’s (user’s) point of view are compared. These parameters in fact stem from the space orbital parameters and are defined as: horizon plane wideness, slant range, latency, and coverage area. A comparison is given for the three Starlink orbit layers, with identification of appropriate drawbacks and advantages as performance indicators. By the end, these parameters are applied to geometrically interpret and confirm the handover process among satellites. This paper may serve to highlight the new challenges of the satellite-terrestrial integrated network, providing some theoretical analysis and performance comparisons for the satellites in different orbit layers seen from the ground station (user) perspective.

An improved separable reversible patient data hiding algorithm for E-healthcare

In the telemedicine industry, a standout among the most significant issue is the exchange of Electronic Patient Information (EPI) between patient and a doctor that are remotely connected. A minute change to EPI may result in a wrong diagnosis for the patient. To ensure secure and safe communication for telemedicine applications, a dual-image separable block-based reversible data hiding algorithm in encrypted domain for embedding secret message in base5 numeral framework is proposed here. The proposed scheme has not been suffering from underflow and overflow problem so that empowering it to embed and recover information precisely from low-intensity pixels too. This property makes our proposed methodology truly reasonable for its utilization on medical images. To prove the effectiveness of our proposed approach, experiments have been performed on different test images. The average PSNR value is 54.10 dB for an embedding capacity of 327,680 bits for all test images which demonstrates that the method is capable of giving good quality stego images even at high payload also. The experimental study revealed that for all types of test images, the proposed methodology altogether beaten all the compared methodologies in its ability to embed secret message and precisely recover it by maintaining the visual quality of stego images too.

Clinician Perceptions on the Use of Free-Text Communication Orders.

The aim of this study was to investigate (1) why ordering clinicians use free-text orders to communicate medication information; (2) what risks physicians and nurses perceive when free-text orders are used for communicating medication information; and (3) how electronic health records (EHRs) could be improved to encourage the safe communication of medication information. We performed semi-structured, scenario-based interviews with eight physicians and eight nurses. Interview responses were analyzed and grouped into common themes. Participants described eight reasons why clinicians use free-text medication orders, five risks relating to the use of free-text medication orders, and five recommendations for improving EHR medication-related communication. Poor usability, including reduced efficiency and limited functionality associated with structured order entry, was the primary reason clinicians used free-text orders to communicate medication information. Common risks to using free-text orders for medication communication included the increased likelihood of missing orders and the increased workload on nurses responsible for executing orders. Clinicians' use of free-text orders is primarily due to limitations in the current structured order entry design. To encourage the safe communication of medication information between clinicians, the EHR's structured order entry must be redesigned to support clinicians' cognitive and workflow needs that are currently being addressed via the use of free-text orders. Clinicians' use of free-text orders as a workaround to insufficient structured order entry can create unintended patient safety risks. Thoughtful solutions designed to address these workarounds can improve the medication ordering process and the subsequent medication administration process.

Telemedicine follow-up is safe and efficacious for synthetic midurethral slings: a randomized, multi-institutional control trial.

Introduction and hypothesisThe objective was to assess whether telemedicine-based follow-up is equivalent to office-based follow-up in the early postoperative period after routine synthetic midurethral sling placement.MethodsThis is a prospective, international, multi-institutional, randomized controlled trial. Patients undergoing synthetic midurethral sling placement were randomized to 3-week postoperative telemedicine versus office-based follow-up. The primary outcome was the rate of unplanned events. Secondary outcomes included patient satisfaction, crossover from telemedicine to office-based follow-up, and compliance with 3- to 5-month office follow-up.ResultsWe included 238 patients (telemedicine: 121 vs office: 117). No differences in demographics or medical comorbidities were noted between the study groups (p = 0.09–1.0). No differences were noted in unplanned events: hospital admission, emergency department visit, or unplanned office visit or call (14% vs 12.9%, p = 0.85) or complications (9.9% vs 8.6%, p = 0.82). Both groups were equally “very satisfied” with their surgical outcomes (71.1% vs 69%, p = 0.2). Telemedicine patients were more compliant with 3- to 5-month office follow-up (90.1% vs 79.3%, p = 0.04).ConclusionsAfter synthetic midurethral sling placement, telemedicine follow-up is a safe patient communication option in the early postoperative period. Telemedicine patients reported no difference in satisfaction compared with office-based follow-up but had greater compliance with 3- to 5-month follow-up.

Smart Internet of Things Based Induction Motor Parameter Monitoring and Control System

Automation is the use of various control systems for operating equipment such as machinery, processes in industries such as boilers and heat treating ovens, switching on telephone networks, steering and stabilization of ships, aircraft and other applications with minimal or reduced human intervention. This research paper presents advanced approaches using wireless monitoring system for induction motor based on Internet of Things (IoT) for safe and economic data communication. n the first approach, state of the art fault detection strategy is exhibited for induction motor. This research paper depends on the assessment of measured voltage, current, earth leakage, rotor status and speed. Progressed embedded strategy and utilized to isolate and survey the disappointment seriousness. In this procedure, distinctive sensors are associated with the motor, and the quantities are extracted by utilizing a microcontroller. The Graphical User Interface (GUI) with cloud server IoT is used to transmit the data from base station to remote station. This arrangement allows the client to interface with the framework. The proposed research paper based induction motor control system is validated through the simulation in Raspberry Pi 3 environment.

Specificity of communication of policemen with persons under the influence of narcotic and psychotropic substances

The paper deals with safe communication between members of the Police of the Czech Republic and persons under the influence of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. The task of police officers is to maintain public order and monitor and investigate crime. Police officers are front line actors, addressing public crisis situations. They are increasingly confronted with people under the influence of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. When investigating crime, they collect information through interrogating suspects, the accused, witnesses and victims who abuse substances. The strategies employed by police officers in interrogating, and communicating with, these people is a key part of their work.

Is It Time to Consider Implementation of Telemedicine in Current Oral Health Care Services?

Telemedicine offers an excellent opportunity to provide continuing health care for those in need during local/global pandemics and disasters. It provides a safe and effective communication tool between health professionals and can be used as "forward triage" to manage medical/dental emergencies and to minimize the contact between the patients and clinicians during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Patients with noncommunicable diseases, like cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular, or chronic respiratory diseases, may present with critical health problems due to less access to health care systems during global disasters; opportunities for screening oral mucosa might be significantly disrupted, leading to delayed diagnosis of malignant/potentially malignant lesions. Telemedicine and oral health care associated mobile applications should be implemented to provide equal access to care, to eliminate unnecessary visits to health centers, and to improve practical coordination between professionals and health facilities.

Security Framework for IoT Based Real-Time Health Applications

The amazing fusion of the internet of things (IoT) into traditional health monitoring systems has produced remarkable advances in the field of e-health. Different wireless body area network devices and sensors are providing real-time health monitoring services. As the number of IoT devices is rapidly booming, technological and security challenges are also rising day by day. The data generated from sensor-based devices need confidentiality, integrity, authenticity, and end-to-end security for safe communication over the public network. IoT-based health monitoring systems work in a layered manner, comprising a perception layer, a network layer, and an application layer. Each layer has some security, and privacy concerns that need to be addressed accordingly. A lot of research has been conducted to resolve these security issues in different domains of IoT. Several frameworks for the security of IoT-based e-health systems have also been developed. This paper introduces a security framework for real-time health monitoring systems to ensure data confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity by using two common IoT protocols, namely constrained application protocol (CoAP) and message query telemetry transports (MQTT). This security framework aims to defend sensor data against the security loopholes while it is continuously transmitting over the layers and uses hypertext transfer protocols (HTTPs) for this purpose. As a result, it shields from the breach with a very low ratio of risk. The methodology of this paper focuses on how the security framework of IoT-based real-time health systems is protected under the tiers of CoAP and HTTPs. CoAP works alongside HTTPs and is responsible for providing end-to-end security solutions.

Effect of Shift Report Training Program for Nurses on Quality of Reporting

Background: Shift report has crucial on achieving effective, safe, and high quality communication when theresponsibility for the patient care is transferred from one nurse to another in suitable manner.Aim of Study: The study aimed to develop quality of reporting among nurses after implementation of shiftreport training program.Subjects and Method: The study was conducted at Shoubra General Hospital which affiliated ministry ofhealth hospitals Total bed capacity is (200) bed. Two groups of subjects participated in the study, namelyhead nurses, staff nurses; 50 head nurses and their assistants in the designated setting, the only selectioncriterion for this group was working in the selected units during the time of the study; and 129 staff nursesout from 194 according this equation. Three data collection tools were used to carry out this study namely,knowledge questionnaire sheet, Observational check list, Audit sheet. The study involved assessment,planning, implementation, and evaluation phases at the end of training and three months follow-up.Results: No one of the staff nurses in the study sample had satisfactory total knowledge scores at the preintervention phase and reach 100% at the post-intervention and follow up phases. No one of the head nursesin the study sample had satisfactory total performance scores at the pre-intervention phase and reach 100%at the post- intervention phase, while the follow-up phase showed some declines, down to 70% in totalperformance scores.Conclusion and Recommendations: There was a statistically significant correlation between head nurses’total knowledge, performance, and audit scores with p-value > 0.01, also, there was a statistically significantcorrelation between nurses’ total knowledge, performance, and audit scores with p-value > 0.01. The studyrecommends Periodic assessment of head nurses and their staff for reporting skills. Regular implementationof training programs regarding shift report.

Development and validation of a safe communication protocol compliant to railway standards

Railway systems are composed of a multitude of subsystems, sensors, and actuators that exchange datagrams through safety-critical communication protocols. However, the vast majority of these protocols rely on ad hoc interlacing mechanisms and safety codes which raise the heterogeneity and complexity of the overarching railway system. Therefore, Rete Ferroviaria Italiana, the company who is in charge of managing the Italian railway network, coordinated the definition of the Protocollo Vitale Standard (Standard Vital Protocol). This protocol is inspired to, and compliant with, the communication protocols adopted for the European Train Control System (ETCS) (SUBSET, UNISIG, 037, Euroradio FIS, version 2.3. 0; SUBSET, UNISIG, 098, RBC-RBC safe communication interface, 2007), and it is meant to become the standard layer to enable safe communication between components of the Italian railway system. This paper reports our experience in the design, implementation, verification, and validation of the Protocollo Vitale Standard in compliance with the European safety standards for railway systems. We first defined a safety plan and a verification and validation plan, which guide the design, development, verification, and validation activities as required by safety standards. Guidelines of such plans have been followed strictly until completion of the work, which concludes with the provision of a safety case where all safety evidences are summarized. Noticeably, we (i) selected appropriate safety mechanisms, (ii) verified the software design, (iii) implemented the software in compliance with code metrics and coding rules, (iv) conducted tests to validate the protocol against its functional and performance requirements, and ultimately (v) devised all relevant documentation and a safety case which summarizes the evidences needed for certification.

Investigating the effectiveness of simplified labels for safe use communication: The case of household detergents

AbstractThis study assessed the effectiveness of safety communication on the back labels of hazardous products (with regulatory and safety information as dictated by regulatory requirements), with household detergents as a test case. The potential of simplification to increase label effectiveness was evaluated by comparing the currently used labelling approach with two simplified alternatives. The labels mainly differed in terms of the amount of information and the prominence of pictograms. The generalisability of theoretical insights on the effectiveness of pictograms in safety messages to a more real‐life context was tested by (a) realistic labels containing several other information elements besides the safety information and (b) target users who are knowledgeable about the product type. One thousand eight hundred (1,800) respondents participated in an online experiment and were randomly exposed to one of the labels. The positive cognitive and behavioural effects commonly attributed to pictorials could not be confirmed, but positive affective effects did emerge. Specifically, even though participants were asked to carefully read the label, they did not spend enough time to process all the content except for the most simplified label. The results did not show meaningful differences between the three labels in terms of information recall (which was poor for all executions), hazard perceptions and behavioural intentions when confronted with an accident. In contrast to this lack of differentiation in cognitive and behavioural intention effects, we did find a clear difference in the affective measure. A majority of the respondents preferred the simplified safety labels. As such, avoiding information overload, and conveying the information in an easier way by means of more prominent use of pictograms, appeared to be appreciated by consumers of household products, while it did not negatively impact label effectiveness.

Culturally competent communication in Indigenous disability assessment: a qualitative study

BackgroundIndigenous people tend to exhibit a higher burden of disability than their non-Indigenous counterparts, and are often underserved by disability services. Engaging appropriately with Indigenous communities, families and individuals in the initial stages of disability assessment and planning is crucial in order to build trust and understanding of disability service models and ensure that Indigenous people receive support that is tailored to their needs and cultural realities. This article aims to identify key elements of culturally competent communication in Indigenous disability assessment and planning, and provide recommendations for strengthening capacity in this area.MethodsThis qualitative research was designed to involve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at all stages and to reflect the views of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers, people and families affected by disability and the community-controlled health sector. Semi-structured individual interviews were undertaken with staff implementing the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) (n = 4), NDIS participants (n = 24), disability support providers and organisational partners (n = 19) and Community Connectors (n = 8) in Queensland and the Northern Territory of Australia. Key themes derived from thematic analysis included appropriate and adequate engagement of individuals with disability and their families, the role of trusted relationships, and culturally safe and appropriate communication during planning meetings.ResultsOverall, the research findings highlight that a low level of cultural competence in the initial stages of the disability assessment and planning process exacerbated participant confusion and distrust towards assessment staff and the NDIS. Given difficulties in communication, participant understanding of the NDIS was generally limited. The necessity of culturally safe and appropriate use of interpreters was stressed, as was the role of trusted individuals, including existing service providers, Community Connectors and family members in providing a solid base for participant understanding of the NDIS.ConclusionsCultural competence in disability assessment and planning can be strengthened through multi-level engagement with the Aboriginal community-controlled sector and community leaders. Implementing mechanisms to enable the involvement of families, trusted service providers and Community Connectors can support a more meaningful understanding of individuals’ needs within their cultural context and in relation to their cultural roles.

Disparity in Nurse Discharge Communication for Hospitalized Families Based on English Proficiency.

Effective communication is critical for safely discharging hospitalized children, including those with limited English proficiency (LEP), who are at high risk of reuse. Our objective was to describe and compare the safety and family centeredness of nurse communication at hospital discharge for English-proficient (EP) and LEP families. In this single-center, cross-sectional study, we used direct observation of hospital discharges for EP and LEP children. Observers recorded quantitative and qualitative details of nurse-family communication, focusing on 3 domains: safe discharge, family centeredness, and family engagement. Patient characteristics and percentages of encounters in which all components were discussed within each domain were compared between EP and LEP encounters by using Fisher's exact tests. We used field notes to supplement quantitative findings. We observed 140 discharge encounters; 49% were with LEP families. Nurses discussed all safe discharge components in 31% of all encounters, most frequently omitting emergency department return precautions. Nurses used all family-centered communication components in 11% and family-engagement components in 89% of all encounters. Nurses were more likely to discuss all components of safe discharge in EP encounters when compared with LEP encounters (53% vs 9%; P < .001; odds ratio: 11.5 [95% confidence interval 4.4-30.1]). There were no differences in family centeredness or family engagement between LEP and EP encounters. Discharge encounters of LEP patients were less likely to include all safe discharge communication components, compared with EP encounters. Opportunities to improve nurse-family discharge communication include providing written discharge instructions in families' primary language, ensuring discussion of return precautions, and using teach-back to optimize family engagement and understanding.

The peculiarities of student activity on the Internet: experience of destructive communication and safety issues

The subject of this research is the peculiarities of destructive communication of youth in the Internet environment. The authors examine the emergence of new social practices and forms of activity within the information digital space, which are characterized by destructive content and pose a threat to the safety of young people. The goal is to explore the most common forms of student activity in the Internet environment, experience of network destructive communication and its negative impact upon safe online interaction (communication) of students. The article employs qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection (focus group and questionnaire); 443 students of Tomsk universities were engaged in the survey. The author reviews most popular forms of youth on the Internet, as well as determines the peculiarities of students&amp;rsquo; representations on the safe networking. The students highlight the following key factors of safe communication on the Internet are: the topic of communication, personality of the opponents, behavioral patterns, and freedom of self-expression. Majority of students have experience with destructive communication on the Internet; however, they do not seek to use the effective strategies to protect themselves from its negative influence. The prevailing strategies are ignoring and observing. The author takes the political content as one an example of most provocative destructive practices of online interaction.

InspirAção: barreiras e facilitadores da comunicação segura sobre o suicídio

O suicídio é um grave problema de saúde pública mundial. A Comunicação Segura é importante recurso para a prevenção do suicídio por meio da conscientização, abordagem acolhedora, busca de ajuda, divulgação de conteúdos preventivos e redução de conteúdos ou interações que potencializem o risco de suicídio entre indivíduos vulneráveis. O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar barreiras e facilitadores da comunicação segura sobre o suicídio em produções discursivas sobre experiências e mensagens de apoio. Trata-se de um estudo qualitativo, realizado em ambiente virtual e submetido à Análise Temática. Dentre os “Facilitadores” foram identificados: “O incentivo para a busca de ajuda profissional”, “A propensão a oferecer ajuda” e “A crença na possibilidade de superação”. Dentre as “Barreiras” relacionadas à comunicação segura sobre o suicídio, foram construídas 3 categorias: “Recusa de Ajuda e a Dificuldade em ofertar ajuda”, “Estigma e Culpabilização” e “Preocupação com o Despreparo”. Entre nas “Possibilidades Ambivalentes”, foram encontradas a “Religiosidade” e “Experiência pessoal e conselhos”. A possibilidade da identificação de facilitadores e barreiras para a comunicação segura sobre o suicídio pode ser fundamental para a elaboração de estratégias de prevenção e promoção em saúde, potencializando os facilitadores e eliminando ou reduzindo as possíveis barreiras.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Towards Blockchain-Based Resource Allocation Models for Cloud-Edge Computing in IoT Applications

Today, Blockchain technology is emerging to support high secured performance computing. To improve privacy and security factors of allocating, storage, and manage resources in edge computing, blockchain technology can be used to guarantee safe data transmission and communications in the Internet of Things (IoT). Due to the heterogeneity of resources to cover a range number of IoT applications, resource allocation has a key role in increasing the performance of the IoT systems in edge computing. Also, a blockchain-based resource allocation model can support Quality of Service for IoT applications to ensure a highly secured communication environment in edge computing. Therefore, to detect and analyze technical aspects and new research directions in this issue, this paper reviews different existing blockchain-based resource allocation models in cloud-edge computing. From the review papers, we had a very high rate of relevant publishes 2018 to 2020. The most published papers belong to IEEE with 21 published papers. After IEEE, ACM and Elsevier are the next publishers with 8 papers. The introduced approaches in reviewed papers are compared using some known measures such as time, latency, cost, service spread, storage, and delay. This review aims to classify the principles and technical aspects of blockchain-based resource allocation in cloud-edge computing.

Mental and Emotional Health Care for COVID-19 Patients: Employing Pudu, a Telepresence Robot

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the mental and emotional health of patients, family members, health-care workers, and the community. Patients are affected by symptoms produced by prolonged hospitalization and isolation, and health-care workers are affected by the stress produced by the possibility of infection and rapid changes in the kinds of care they provide. Robotics technologies can contribute to addressing these stresses. This article describes the development and main characteristics of Pudu, a telepresence robot designed to provide safe communication between COVID-19 patients and health-care workers, particularly neurologists and intensive care psychologists. The article identifies the key aspects that enabled the development and deployment of the robot in just eight weeks during an intensive quarantine and describes how the robot is assisting health-care workers in providing mental and psychological health care. At present, two Pudu robots are in use in two Chilean hospitals. Although the city of Santiago is moving toward less-intensive levels of quarantine, our robots are still needed to help provide the required emotional support and mental/psychological health care to confined patients.

Barriers and Facilitators of Safe Communication in Obstetrics: Results from Qualitative Interviews with Physicians, Midwives and Nurses

Patient safety is an important objective in health care. Preventable adverse events (pAEs) as the counterpart to patient safety are harmful incidents that fell behind health care standards and have led to temporary or permanent harm or death. As safe communication and mutual understanding are of crucial importance for providing a high quality of care under everyday conditions, we aimed to identify barriers and facilitators that impact safe communication in obstetrics from the subjective perspective of health care workers. A qualitative study with 20 semi-structured interviews at two university hospitals in Germany was conducted to explore everyday perceptions from a subjective perspective (subjective theories). Physicians, midwives, and nurses in a wide span of professional experience and positions were enrolled. We identified a structural area of conflict at the professional interface between midwives and physicians. Mandatory interprofessional meetings, acceptance of subjective mistakes, mutual understanding, and debriefings of conflict situations are reported to improve collaboration. Additionally, emergency trainings, trainings in precise communication, and handovers are proposed to reduce risks for pAEs. Furthermore, the participants reported time-constraints and understaffing as a huge burden that hinders safe communication. Concluding, safety culture and organizational management are closely entwined and strategies should address various levels of which communication trainings are promising.