4,447 research outputs found
Psychosocial care for persons affected by emergencies and major incidents: a Delphi study to determine the needs of professional first responders for education, training and support
Background
The role of ambulance clinicians in providing psychosocial care in major incidents and emergencies is recognised in recent Department of Health guidance. The study described in this paper identified NHS professional first respondersâ needs for education about survivorsâ psychosocial responses, training in psychosocial skills, and continuing support.
Method
Ambulance staff participated in an online Delphi questionnaire, comprising 74 items (Round 1) on 7-point Likert scales. Second-round and third-round participants each received feedback based on the previous round, and responded to modified versions of the original items and to new items for clarification.
Results
One hundred and two participants took part in Round 1; 47 statements (64%) achieved consensus. In Round 2, 72 people from Round 1 participated; 15 out of 39 statements (38%) achieved consensus. In Round 3, 49 people from Round 2 participated; 15 out of 27 statements (59%) achieved consensus. Overall, there was consensus in the following areas: âpsychosocial needs of patientsâ (consensus in 34/37 items); âpossible sources of stress in your workâ (8/9); âimpacts of distress in your workâ (7/10); âmeeting your own emotional needsâ (4/5); âsupport within your organisationâ (2/5); âneeds for training in psychosocial skills for patientsâ (15/15); âmy needs for psychosocial training and supportâ (5/6).
Conclusions
Ambulance clinicians recognise their own education needs and the importance of their being offered psychosocial training and support. The authors recommend that, in order to meet patientsâ psychosocial needs effectively, ambulance clinicians are provided with education and training in a number of skills and their own psychosocial support should be enhanced
Public experiences of mass casualty decontamination
In this article, we analyze feedback from simulated casualties who took part in field exercises involving mass decontamination, to gain an understanding of how responder communication can affect peopleâs experiences of and compliance with decontamination. We analyzed questionnaire data gathered from 402 volunteers using the framework approach, to provide an insight into the publicâs experiences of decontamination and how these experiences are shaped by the actions of emergency responders. Factors that affected casualtiesâ experiences of the econtamination process included the need for greater practical information and better communication from responders, and the need for privacy. Results support previous findings from small-scale incidents that involved decontamination in showing that participants wanted better communication from responders during the process of decontamination, including more practical information, and that the failure of responders to communicate effectively with members of the public led to anxiety about the decontamination process. The similarity between the findings from the exercises described in this article and previous research into real
incidents involving decontamination suggests that field exercises provide a useful way to examine the effect of responder communication strategies on the publicâs experiences of decontamination. Future exercises should examine in more detail the effect of various communication strategies on the publicâs experiences of decontamination. This will facilitate the development of evidence-based communication strategies intended to reduce anxiety about decontamination and increase compliance among members of the public during real-life incidents that involve mass decontamination
Perceived responder legitimacy and group identification predict cooperation and compliance in a mass decontamination field exercise
Emergency respondersâ failure to communicate effectively during decontamination following a chemical or biological incident has been associated with increased public anxiety and reduced public compliance. In this study we applied the social identity approach to evaluating a field exercise that involved mass decontamination. Questionnaires were collected from 115 volunteers, who participated in the exercise as simulated casualties. Volunteersâ perceptions of effective responder communication predicted increased self-reported compliance with decontamination, mediated by perceived responder legitimacy and identification with other group members. Developing effective communication strategies using a social psychology perspective could improve the way in which incidents are managed
Lack of Serologic Evidence of Neospora caninum in Humans, England
Retrospective testing of 3,232 serum samples from the general population and 518 serum samples from a high-risk group showed no evidence of human exposure to Neospora caninum in England. Results were obtained by using immunofluorescence antibody testing and ELISA to analyze frequency distribution
The Astropy Problem
The Astropy Project (http://astropy.org) is, in its own words, "a community
effort to develop a single core package for Astronomy in Python and foster
interoperability between Python astronomy packages." For five years this
project has been managed, written, and operated as a grassroots,
self-organized, almost entirely volunteer effort while the software is used by
the majority of the astronomical community. Despite this, the project has
always been and remains to this day effectively unfunded. Further, contributors
receive little or no formal recognition for creating and supporting what is now
critical software. This paper explores the problem in detail, outlines possible
solutions to correct this, and presents a few suggestions on how to address the
sustainability of general purpose astronomical software
Efficiency and safety of varying the frequency of whole blood donation (INTERVAL): a randomised trial of 45 000 donors
Background:
Limits on the frequency of whole blood donation exist primarily to safeguard donor health. However, there is substantial variation across blood services in the maximum frequency of donations allowed. We compared standard practice in the UK with shorter inter-donation intervals used in other countries.
Methods:
In this parallel group, pragmatic, randomised trial, we recruited whole blood donors aged 18 years or older from 25 centres across England, UK. By use of a computer-based algorithm, men were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to 12-week (standard) versus 10-week versus 8-week inter-donation intervals, and women were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to 16-week (standard) versus 14-week versus 12-week intervals. Participants were not masked to their allocated intervention group. The primary outcome was the number of donations over 2 years. Secondary outcomes related to safety were quality of life, symptoms potentially related to donation, physical activity, cognitive function, haemoglobin and ferritin concentrations, and deferrals because of low haemoglobin. This trial is registered with ISRCTN, number ISRCTN24760606, and is ongoing but no longer recruiting participants.
Findings:
45â263 whole blood donors (22â466 men, 22â797 women) were recruited between June 11, 2012, and June 15, 2014. Data were analysed for 45â042 (99·5%) participants. Men were randomly assigned to the 12-week (n=7452) versus 10-week (n=7449) versus 8-week (n=7456) groups; and women to the 16-week (n=7550) versus 14-week (n=7567) versus 12-week (n=7568) groups. In men, compared with the 12-week group, the mean amount of blood collected per donor over 2 years increased by 1·69 units (95% CI 1·59â1·80; approximately 795 mL) in the 8-week group and by 0·79 units (0·69â0·88; approximately 370 mL) in the 10-week group (p<0·0001 for both). In women, compared with the 16-week group, it increased by 0·84 units (95% CI 0·76â0·91; approximately 395 mL) in the 12-week group and by 0·46 units (0·39â0·53; approximately 215 mL) in the 14-week group (p<0·0001 for both). No significant differences were observed in quality of life, physical activity, or cognitive function across randomised groups. However, more frequent donation resulted in more donation-related symptoms (eg, tiredness, breathlessness, feeling faint, dizziness, and restless legs, especially among men [for all listed symptoms]), lower mean haemoglobin and ferritin concentrations, and more deferrals for low haemoglobin (p<0·0001 for each) than those observed in the standard frequency groups.
Interpretation:
Over 2 years, more frequent donation than is standard practice in the UK collected substantially more blood without having a major effect on donors' quality of life, physical activity, or cognitive function, but resulted in more donation-related symptoms, deferrals, and iron deficiency.
Funding:
NHS Blood and Transplant, National Institute for Health Research, UK Medical Research Council, and British Heart Foundation
Science and technology requirements to explore caves in our Solar System
Research on planetary caves requires cross-planetary-body investigations spanning multiple disciplines, including geology, climatology, astrobiology, robotics, human exploration and operations. The community determined that a roadmap was needed to establish a common framework for planetary cave research. This white paper is our initial conception
US Cosmic Visions: New Ideas in Dark Matter 2017: Community Report
This white paper summarizes the workshop "U.S. Cosmic Visions: New Ideas in
Dark Matter" held at University of Maryland on March 23-25, 2017.Comment: 102 pages + reference
Nietzscheâs Pragmatic Genealogy of Justice
This paper analyses the connection between Nietzscheâs early employment of the genealogical method and contemporary neo-pragmatism. The paper has two goals. On the one hand, by viewing Nietzscheâs writings in the light of neo-pragmatist ideas and reconstructing his approach to justice as a pragmatic genealogy, it seeks to bring out an under-appreciated aspect of his genealogical method which illustrates how genealogy can be used to vindicate rather than to subvert and accounts for Nietzscheâs lack of historical references. On the other hand, by highlighting what Nietzsche has to offer neo-pragmatism, it seeks to contribute to neo-pragmatismâs conception of genealogy. The paper argues that Nietzsche and the neo-pragmatists share a naturalistic concern and a pragmatist strategy in responding to it. The paper then shows that Nietzsche avoids a reductive form of functionalism by introducing a temporal axis, but that this axis should be understood as a developmental model rather than as historical time. This explains Nietzscheâs failure to engage with history. The paper concludes that pragmatic genealogy can claim a genuinely Nietzschean pedigree
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