Articles: pandemics.
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Food insecurity functions as a social driver of health, directly negatively impacting health status and outcomes, which can further negatively impact employment and income and increase medical expenditures-all of which exacerbates food insecurity. Progress in meaningfully reducing the food-insecurity rate has stalled in recent years. Although rates have decreased since their peak during the Great Recession, these gains have been reversed by the economic implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. ⋯ Physicians and other medical professionals also have a role in improving nutritional health by screening for food insecurity and serving as connectors between patients, community organizations, and government services. Governments and payers must support these efforts by providing sufficient resources to practices to fulfill this role. In this position paper, the American College of Physicians (ACP) offers several policy recommendations to strengthen the federal food-insecurity response and empower physicians and other medical professionals to better address those social drivers of health occurring beyond the office doors.
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, a substantial number of emergency health care workers (HCWs) have screened positive for anxiety, depression, risk of posttraumatic stress disorder, and burnout. The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe the impact of COVID-19 on emergency care providers' health and well-being using personal perspectives. We conducted in-depth interviews with emergency physicians, emergency medicine nurses, and emergency medical services providers at 10 collaborating sites across the United States between September 21, 2020, and October 26, 2020. ⋯ Future preparedness efforts should include mechanisms to support frontline HCWs when faced with ethical challenges in addition to an adverse working environment caused by a pandemic such as COVID-19.
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The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had wide-reaching direct and indirect impacts on population health. In low- and middle-income countries, these impacts can halt progress toward reducing maternal and child mortality. This study estimates changes in health services utilization during the pandemic and the associated consequences for maternal, neonatal, and child mortality. ⋯ Declines in healthcare utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic amplified the pandemic's harmful impacts on health outcomes and threaten to reverse gains in reducing maternal and child mortality. As efforts and resource allocation toward prevention and treatment of COVID-19 continue, essential health services must be maintained, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
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Emerg Med Australas · Aug 2022
"I was prepared to become infected as a frontline medical staff": a survey of Australian emergency department staff experiences during COVID-19.
To identify challenges faced by Australian hospital healthcare staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. ⋯ The Australian system provided sufficient information and PPE. Staff experienced considerable stress, infection concerns and emotional challenges, which merit consideration in preparing for the future.
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The years 2020-2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic witnessed increases in firearm violence in many cities across the USA. We present data from Sacramento, Stockton, and Richmond, California that suggests firearm homicides during the pandemic did not increase in all communities or disproportionately burden the African American community. More specifically, we found that in these cities, there was a 5-52% decrease in gun homicides during the 2020/2021 period compared to the 2018/2019 period for neighborhoods with a gun violence prevention program operating there. ⋯ Advance Peace is a program that engages those at the center of gun violence, frequently young, Black men under 35 years old, and offers them the Peacemaker Fellowship, an intensive, 18-month program of 24/7 mentorship, social services, and life opportunities. The program is delivered by community resident "credible messengers," who conduct the mentorship and interrupt conflicts in the streets. While these findings are descriptive and preliminary, we know of no other program that was in operation before and during the pandemic in each of these cities that engaged the hard-to-reach but highly influential population at the center of gun violence.