30-day mortality in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 during the first wave of the Italian epidemic: a prospective cohort study

Italy was the first European country hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and has the highest number of recorded COVID-19 deaths in Europe. This prospective cohort study of the correlates of the risk of death in COVID-19 patients was conducted at the Infectious Diseases and Intensive Care units of Luigi Sacco Hospital, Milan, Italy. The clinical characteristics of all the COVID-19 patients hospitalised in the early days of the epidemic (21 February -19 March 2020) were recorded upon admission, and the time-dependent probability of death was evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier method (censored as of 20 April 2020). Cox proportional hazard models were used to assess the factors independently associated with the risk of death. Forty-eight (20.6%) of the 233 patients followed up for a median of 40 days (interquartile range 33-47) died during the follow-up. Most were males (69.1%) and their median age was 61 years (IQR 50-72). The time-dependent probability of death was 19.7% (95% CI 14.6-24.9%) 30 days after hospital admission. Age (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 2.08, 95% CI 1.48-2.92 per ten years more) and obesity (aHR 3.04, 95% CI 1.42-6.49) were independently associated with an increased risk of death, which was also associated with critical disease (aHR 8.26, 95% CI 1.41-48.29), C-reactive protein levels (aHR 1.17, 95% CI 1.02-1.35 per 50\u2009mg/L more) and creatinine kinase levels above 185 U/L (aHR 2.58, 95% CI 1.37-4.87) upon admission. Case-fatality rate of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the early days of the Italian epidemic was about 20%. Our study adds evidence to the notion that older age, obesity and more advanced illness are factors associated to an increased risk of death among patients hospitalized with COVID-19

Information security: Listening to the perspective of organisational insiders

Aligned with the strategy-as-practice research tradition, this article investigates how organisational insiders understand and perceive their surrounding information security practices, how they interpret them, and how they turn such interpretations into strategic actions. The study takes a qualitative case study approach, and participants are employees at the Research & Development department of a multinational original brand manufacturer. The article makes an important contribution to organisational information security management. It addresses the behaviour of organisational insiders – a group whose role in the prevention, response and mitigation of information security incidents is critical. The article identifies a set of organisational insiders’ perceived components of effective information security practices (organisational mission statement; common understanding of information security; awareness of threats; knowledge of information security incidents, routines and policy; relationships between employees; circulation of stories; role of punishment provisions; and training), based on which more successful information security strategies can be developed

FOSTERING EMPLOYEES' INNOVATIVE WORK BEHAVIOUR in HEALTHCARE ORGANISATIONS

Healthcare workers' innovative work behaviour plays a key role in generating innovation. To date determinants of innovative work behaviour are not completely detected and there is a call for additional empirical evidence on organizational-level factors influencing individual's innovation. This study empirically explores the relationships between organizational climate, organisation's openness to innovation, and innovative work behaviour in the context of a public sector healthcare organization. A survey has been conducted on employees of a large Italian public sector hospital. Data collected on 560 professionals have been analyzed through Structural Equation Modelling technique. The results show that organisational climate affects employees' innovative work behavior both directly and indirectly through organisation's openness to innovation. Specifically our findings highlight that organization's openness to innovation partially mediates the relationship between organizational climate and employees' innovative work behavior. The results should lead managers to consider the importance of organizational climate and openness to innovation as effective levers to pull in order to improve employees' innovative work behavior

Assessing energy within organisations

Purpose – The energy of employees is recognised as an important factor in their performance and in maximising their overall contribution to the organisation. Organisational energy is dynamic in nature; it is more than just the sum of the energy of its employees. It also includes the interaction and dynamics of teams and the organisation as a whole. This paper aims to provide an investigation of the role and relevance of energy in driving business performance