Clinician Perceptions of Respiratory Infection Risk; A Rationale for Research Into Mask Use in Routine Practice
TL;DR: There is a need for more research to provide a better understanding of the decision-making and risk-taking behaviours of HCWs in respect of their use of masks for infectious disease prevention, based on the ongoing threat of emerging infectious diseases.
Abstract: Outbreaks of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases are global threats to society. Planning for, and responses to, such events must include healthcare and other measures based on current evidence. An important area of infection prevention and control (IPC) is the optimal use of personal protective equipment (PPE) by healthcare workers (HCWs), including masks for protection against respiratory pathogens. Appropriate mask use during routine care is a forerunner to best practice in the event of an outbreak. However, little is known about the influences on decisions and behaviours of HCWs with respect to protective mask use when providing routine care. In this paper we argue that there is a need for more research to provide a better understanding of the decision-making and risk-taking behaviours of HCWs in respect of their use of masks for infectious disease prevention. Our argument is based on the ongoing threat of emerging infectious diseases; a need to strengthen workforce capability, capacity and education; the financial costs of healthcare and outbreaks; and the importance of social responsibility and supportive legislation in planning for global security. Future research should examine HCWs' practices and constructs of risk to provide new information to inform policy and pandemic planning.
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TL;DR: The role of environmental factors and conditions such as temperature, humidity, wind speed as well as food, water and sewage, air, insects, inanimate surfaces, and hands in COVID-19 transmission was discussed and the resistance of this virus on smooth surfaces was higher than others.
Abstract: The current outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in more than 250 countries has become a serious threat to the health of people around the world. Human-to-human transmission of the Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) occurs most often when people are in the incubation stage of the disease or are carriers and have no symptoms. Therefore, in this study, was discussed the role of environmental factors and conditions such as temperature, humidity, wind speed as well as food, water and sewage, air, insects, inanimate surfaces, and hands in COVID-19 transmission. The results of studies on the stability of the SARS-CoV-2 on different levels showed that the resistance of this virus on smooth surfaces was higher than others. Temperature increase and sunlight can facilitate the destruction of SARS-COV-2 and the stability of it on surfaces. When the minimum ambient air temperature increases by 1 °C, the cumulative number of cases decreases by 0.86%. According to the latest evidence, the presence of coronavirus in the sewer has been confirmed, but there is no evidence that it is transmitted through sewage or contaminated drinking water. Also, SARS-COV-2 transmission through food, food packages, and food handlers has not been identified as a risk factor for the disease. According to the latest studies, the possibility of transmitting SARS-COV-2 bioaerosol through the air has been reported in the internal environment of ophthalmology. The results additionally show that infectious bio-aerosols can move up to 6 feet. There have been no reports of SARS-COV-2 transmission by blood-feeding arthropods such as mosquitoes.
173 citations
TL;DR: A summary of the existing reports of the environmental impacts of COVID-19 pandemic are discussed and the important findings are presented focusing on several aspects: air pollution, waste management, air quality improvements, waste fires, wildlife, global migration, and sustainability as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the official name of a respiratory infectious disease caused by a new coronavirus that started first in Wuhan, China, and outspread worldwide with an unexpectedly fast speed. Flights have been canceled worldwide and transportation has been closed nationwide and across international borders. As a consequence, the economic activity has been stopped and stock markets have been dropped. The COVID-19 lockdown has several social and economic effects. Additionally, COVID-19 has caused several impacts on global migration. On the other hand, such lockdown, along with minimal human mobility, has impacted the natural environment somewhat positively. Overall carbon emissions have dropped, and the COVID-19 lockdown has led to an improvement in air quality and a reduction in water pollution in many cities around the globe. A summary of the existing reports of the environmental impacts of COVID-19 pandemic are discussed and the important findings are presented focusing on several aspects: air pollution, waste management, air quality improvements, waste fires, wildlife, global migration, and sustainability.
131 citations
Cites background from "Clinician Perceptions of Respirator..."
...The movement of people, migration, social contact, weather changes, agricultural expansion, and interaction with household animals and wildlife are linked to the disease transmission (Barratt et al. 2019; Dehghani and Kassiri 2020)....
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TL;DR: The presence of viral RNA in wastewater provides an early warning that highlights the need for effective sewage treatment to prevent a future outbreak of SARS-CoV-2.
80 citations
TL;DR: This study integrates the theory of planned behavior and normative activation to propose a new comprehensive theoretical framework, which aims to reveal people’s mask-saving intentions (MSI) and behaviors in the post-pandemic period.
35 citations
TL;DR: Privately practising midwives were resourceful, sought out information and were prepared for the response to planning for the COVID-19 pandemic, but support from the hospital sector was not always present.
20 citations
Cites background from "Clinician Perceptions of Respirator..."
...Many health workers in maternity settings have little knowledge of decision-making in relation to the choice and use of facemasks (26), not to mention the impact of facemasks on J ur na l P re -p r of...
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References
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TL;DR: Interventions and policies to change behaviour can be usefully characterised by means of a BCW comprising: a 'behaviour system' at the hub, encircled by intervention functions and then by policy categories, and a new framework aimed at overcoming their limitations is developed.
Abstract: Improving the design and implementation of evidence-based practice depends on successful behaviour change interventions. This requires an appropriate method for characterising interventions and linking them to an analysis of the targeted behaviour. There exists a plethora of frameworks of behaviour change interventions, but it is not clear how well they serve this purpose. This paper evaluates these frameworks, and develops and evaluates a new framework aimed at overcoming their limitations. A systematic search of electronic databases and consultation with behaviour change experts were used to identify frameworks of behaviour change interventions. These were evaluated according to three criteria: comprehensiveness, coherence, and a clear link to an overarching model of behaviour. A new framework was developed to meet these criteria. The reliability with which it could be applied was examined in two domains of behaviour change: tobacco control and obesity. Nineteen frameworks were identified covering nine intervention functions and seven policy categories that could enable those interventions. None of the frameworks reviewed covered the full range of intervention functions or policies, and only a minority met the criteria of coherence or linkage to a model of behaviour. At the centre of a proposed new framework is a 'behaviour system' involving three essential conditions: capability, opportunity, and motivation (what we term the 'COM-B system'). This forms the hub of a 'behaviour change wheel' (BCW) around which are positioned the nine intervention functions aimed at addressing deficits in one or more of these conditions; around this are placed seven categories of policy that could enable those interventions to occur. The BCW was used reliably to characterise interventions within the English Department of Health's 2010 tobacco control strategy and the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence's guidance on reducing obesity. Interventions and policies to change behaviour can be usefully characterised by means of a BCW comprising: a 'behaviour system' at the hub, encircled by intervention functions and then by policy categories. Research is needed to establish how far the BCW can lead to more efficient design of effective interventions.
6,692 citations
"Clinician Perceptions of Respirator..." refers background in this paper
...Therefore, an understanding of the perceptions and behaviours regarding PPE use in different contexts is needed to inform successful behaviour change interventions [9]....
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TL;DR: The results highlight the enormous annual burden of influenza in the US, with hospitalization costs and lost productivity from missed work days and lost lives comprise the bulk of the economic burden.
1,667 citations
TL;DR: The role that risk, and especially the perception of risk, its communication and management, played in driving the economic impact of SARS is examined and the potential for the rapid spread of infectious disease is not necessarily a greater threat than it has always been, but the effect that an outbreak can have on the economy is, which requires further research and policy development.
676 citations
"Clinician Perceptions of Respirator..." refers background in this paper
...A clear example of this was SARS, which spread from one “super-spreader” in a hotel in Hong Kong to numerous other countries via international guests who were infected, by contact, while staying in the same hotel [13]....
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TL;DR: The results showed increased transmission potential of MERS-CoV from a single patient in an overcrowded emergency room and provide compelling evidence that health-care facilities worldwide need to be prepared for emerging infectious diseases.
274 citations
"Clinician Perceptions of Respirator..." refers background in this paper
...Similarly a large outbreak of MERS involving 186 cases resulted from a single traveller returning to South Korea from the Middle East and attending several hospital emergency departments after he became unwell [14]....
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