Reopening schools during the COVID-19 pandemic: Overview and rapid systematic review of guidelines and recommendations on preventive measures and the management of cases

Given the limited evidence of school closure effectiveness in containing the pandemic and the consequences for young people, reopening schools with appropriate measures is essential. This overview aimed to describe the main measures planned for the 2020–2021 academic year within the WHO European Region. A rapid systematic review of scientific databases was also performed. The websites of the government, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Education of European Region countries were searched through 1 October for official documents about the prevention and management of suspected cases/confirmed cases in primary and secondary schools. To find further suggestions, a rapid systematic review was conducted through 20 October searching Pubmed, Scopus, and Embase. There were 23 official documents. France, Luxembourg, Malta, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, the UK, Spain, and San Marino were considered. Performing the rapid review, 855 records were identified and 7 papers were finally selected. The recommendations mostly agreed. However, there was no consensus on the criteria for the return to school of students that tested positive, and the flexibility between attendance at school and remote education for high-risk children often varied. School closure was commonly considered as the very last resort for COVID-19 control. Studies are required to evaluate the impact of different recommendations during this autumn term

Barriers and facilitators to the implementation of nurse’s role in primary care settings: an integrative review

Background: The rapid evolution of the epidemiological picture and the recent SARS-COV-2 pandemic has expressed the vulnerabilities of health systems and focuses attention on the population’s needs. The nurse’s figure in the care teams is universally identified; however, the implementation of the role within some care settings turns out to be complex and challenging. This integrative review aims to identify the barriers and facilitators in implementing the role of the nurse in primary care settings. Methods: An integrative review was conducted on the Medline and Cinahl databases until 9 June 2020. Qualitative, quantitative, and Mixed-method research studies were selected to identify studies related to the barriers and facilitators of the nurse’s role in nursing facilities’ primary care. For the extraction of the results, the Consolidating Framework for Research Implementation (CFIR) was used to identify the factors that influence implementation in health care. Results: Following the duplicates’ removal, the search identified 18,257 articles, of which 56 were relevant to the inclusion criteria; therefore, they were included in the summary. The selected studies were conducted in thirteen countries, most from Oceania, Europe, North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The barriers reported most frequently concern the nursing profession’s regulatory and regulatory aspects within the contexts of care, cultural and organizational aspects, training, and the transfer of specific skills, which were previously designated to doctors. The facilitators are mainly linked to the nurse’s adaptability to the various contexts of care, recognizing the patient’s role, and the desire to develop multidisciplinary and effective working groups to respond to the health needs of the population in primary care contexts. Conclusion: This review highlighted the main barriers and facilitators in implementing the nurse’s role in primary care settings. These results offer useful elements for stakeholders to identify effective strategies in preparing programs and activities for implementing the nurse’s role, acting on the elements identified as barriers and favouring the aspects that emerge as facilitators

Burden of COVID-19: Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) across 16 European countries

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to measure and compare the burden of disease of COVID-19 pandemic in 16 EU/EEA countries through the estimation of Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) over a long period of time

Impact of the Timing of Integrated Home Palliative Care Enrolment on Emergency Department Visits

Background: The association between timing of integrated home palliative care (IHPC) enrolment and emergency department (ED) visits is still under debate, and no studies investigated the effect of the timing of IPHC enrolment on ED visits, according to their level of emergency. This study aimed to investigate the impact of the timing of IHPC enrolment on different acuity ED visits. Methods: A retrospective, pre-/post-intervention study was conducted from 2013 to 2019 in Italy. Analyses were stratified by IHPC duration (short 90 days) and triage tags (white/green: low level of emergency visit; yellow/red: medium to-high level). The impact of the timing of IHPC enrolment was evaluated in two ways: incidence rate ratios (IRR) of ED visits were determined 1) before and after IHPC enrolment in each group and 2) post-IHPC among groups. Results: A cohort of 17983 patients was analysed. Patients enrolled early in the IHPC programme had a significantly lower incidence rate of ED visits than the pre-enrolment period (IRR=0.65). The incidence rates of white/green and yellow/red ED visits were significantly lower post-IHPC enrolment for patients enrolled early (IRR= 0.63 and 0.67, respectively). All results were statistically significant (p<0.001). Comparing the IHPC groups after enrolment versus the short group, medium and long IHPC groups had a significant reduction of ED visits (IRR=0.37, IRR=0.14 respectively), showing a relation between the timing of IHPC enrolment and the incidence of ED visits. A similar trend was observed after accounting for triage tags of ED visits. Conclusion: The timing of IHPC enrolment is related with a variation of the incidence of ED visits. Early IHPC enrolment is related to a high significant reduction of ED visits when compared to the 90-day pre-IHPC enrolment period and to late IHPC enrolment, accounting for both low-level and medium-to-high level emergency ED visits

Booster main magnet power supply, present operation and potential future upgrades

The Brookhaven Booster Main Magnet Power Supply (MMPS) is a 24 pulse thyristor control supply, rated at 5500 Amps, +/-2000 Volts, or 3000 Amps, +/-6000 Volts. The power supply is fed directly from the power utility and the peak magnet power is 18 MWatts. This peak power is seen directly at the incoming ac line. This power supply has been in operation for the last 18 years. This paper will describe the present topology and operation of the power supply, the feedback control system and the different modes of operation of the power supply. Since the power supply has been in operation for the last 18 years, upgrading this power supply is essential. A new power supply topology has been studied where energy is stored in capacitor banks. DC to DC converters are used to convert the dc voltage stored in the capacitor banks to pulsed DC voltage into the magnet load. This enables the average incoming power from the ac line to be constant while the peak magnet power is pulsed to +/- 18 MWatts. Simulations and waveforms of this power supply will be presented