Articles: pandemics.
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Dtsch. Med. Wochenschr. · Dec 2023
Review[Vaccinations as a key to pandemic management - Lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic].
Pandemics and epidemic outbreaks caused by emerging pathogens can usually only be curbed in the longterm through establishment of protective population-wide immunity. With the unprecedented rapid development and supply of highly effective vaccines against COVID-19, science and industry delivered the critical medical breakthrough for the successful management of the COVID-19 pandemic. ⋯ Nevertheless, the pandemic and its consequences for medicine, science, and society continue to reverberate. This article reviews at the development and implementation of COVID-19 vaccines, focusing on the situation in Germany, and seeks to draw lessons from the past three years to improve our readiness to combat future outbreaks and pandemics more effectively.
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Critical care medicine · Dec 2023
Measuring the Impact of ICU Strain on Mortality, After-Hours Discharge, Discharge Delay, Interhospital Transfer, and Readmission in Australia With the Activity Index.
ICU resource strain leads to adverse patient outcomes. Simple, well-validated measures of ICU strain are lacking. Our objective was to assess whether the "Activity index," an indicator developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, was a valid measure of ICU strain. ⋯ The Activity index is a simple and valid measure that identifies ICUs in which increasing strain leads to progressively worse patient outcomes.
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Acta clinica Croatica · Dec 2023
ReviewMANAGEMENT OF ACUTE APPENDICITIS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN CROATIA: A SINGLE-CENTER STUDY.
The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of patients presenting to the emergency room with acute appendicitis and subsequent results of surgical treatment. Our single center retrospective study was conducted in Sestre milosrdnice University Hospital Center, Zagreb, Croatia. ⋯ The results showed a statistically significant increase in the ratio of open laparotomies (p=0.006) and ratio of perforated appendicitis (p=0.047) during the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to the pre-pandemic period. The time between symptom onset and hospitalization, measured in days, did not demonstrate a statistically significant increase (p=0.379), and minor increase in the postoperative length of stay was not statistically significant either (p=0.879).