Health in Emergencies and Disasters Quarterly
Year:2024 | Volume:9 | Issue:4|Papers Count:8

New computer science technologies have sought to bring the virtual world and the real world closer and increase human interactions. Formerly, from the viewpoint of end users, personal computers, the Internet, and mobile devices were the three main waves of technology innovation, and the three-dimensional, immersive technologies, such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are the fourth wave of this movement. Metaverse is a new paradigm that is expected to revolutionize and change dramatically in various areas, such as business, telecommuting, entertainment, and especially education. Metaverse consists of two-compound hybrid words, including meta which is a Greek prefix, meaning post (after or beyond) and universe. Metaverse is a multiuser, eternal, post-reality environment that combines digital virtuality and physical reality. Its foundation is the confluence of technologies, like VR and AR, which allow for multimodal interactions with digital objects, people, and virtual surroundings. As a result, the metaverse can be defined as a persistent multiuser platform that is connected to other networks of socially engaging settings.

Background: Emergency medical services (EMS) play a crucial role as the first line of defense during emergencies and disasters. Given the current impact of climate change, EMS will need to employ innovative strategies to cope with changing conditions. This scoping review investigates how EMS can adapt to climate change in pre-hospital emergencies. Materials and Methods: In this study, peer-reviewed studies and texts on adaptive strategies of pre-hospital emergency systems published in 2023 were reviewed. Accordingly, online databases, including Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar as a search engine were searched. The selected keywords were as follows: “Medical technician, ” “paramedic, ” “ambulance, ” “climate change, ” “global warming, ” “adaptation, ” “mitigation, ” and “resiliency” (and synonyms). Conclusion: No wide-ranging study has been conducted on the adaptation strategies of EMS against climate change and this is the first study in this field. In this study, elements and adaptation strategies against climate change were investigated. Extracting these cases and using them to improve the readiness and resilience of the pre-hospital emergency system will be effective against this phenomenon.

Background: Driver drowsiness is a significant factor contributing to road accidents and the overall increase in road mortality rates. This study investigates the relationship between lane crossing (LC), the number of lateral position deviations and driver drowsiness. The proposed method, due to precision and convenience, has great potential for developing driver-assistant systems. Materials and Methods: In this experimental research, 34 sub-urban bus drivers participated in a 2-h driving session in a simulator designed based on visual reality. Sensors attached to the steering recorded right and left deviations and relevant information was matched with the receded videos and the amount of the standard deviation of lane position (SDLP). The number of LC was determined with the designed indicator on the road software. Then, the association between SDLP and the number of LC was compared with the results of the Karolinska sleepiness scale (KSS) and observer rating of drowsiness (ORD), which determined the level of drowsiness, by facial features. Results: The results of multivariate analysis of variance indicated that the time variable has a significant effect on both ORD and SDLP (P<0. 05). These two variables provided over 99% of the variance. The same results were obtained for KSS and SDLP (P<0. 05). Meanwhile, the linear combination of these two dependent variables over 12 periods of the research has significant variations. In addition, the results show the progression of KSS and ORD (P<0. 05) and an increase in SDLP and LC (P<0. 05). In the same manner, LC has a tight association with the level of drowsiness and other factors (P<0. 05). Conclusion: Drowsiness increases the variation in line tracking. However, it is not an appropriate signal for drowsiness detection. The SDLP and the number of line crossings is an appropriate criterion to check drivers’ performance.

Background: One of the main causes of injury and death in children under 5 years of age is accidents. Lack of awareness about preventive measures against these accidents and having a belief that these accidents are inevitable are major issues in Iran. This study aims to investigate and categorize the interventions recommended for preventing accidents in children under 5 years of age. Materials and Methods: This scoping review was conducted in 2023. A search was conducted for the related studies in databases including Scopus, ISI, MEDLINE, Embase, Proquest, Cochrane Library, Emerald, MagIran, IranDoc, MoH thesis database and MoH articles database using the keywords “incident”, “accident, ” “emergency, ” “injury, ” “disaster, ” “road traffic, ” “child, ” “intervention, ” “preparedness, ” and “prevention. ” The search was conducted on studies published in English or Persian, from 2000 to 2023. To assess the quality of the selected articles, the critical appraisal skills program (CASP) checklist was used. The data were analyzed using content analysis method in MAXQDA software, version 20. Results: The initial search yielded 1495 articles. After removing duplicates and irrelevant articles, and reading abstracts, and full texts, 41 studies (3 theses and 38 articles) were selected for the review. We produced 234 codes, 45 for interventions to prevent man-made disasters, 157 for interventions to prevent domestic accidents, 18 for interventions to prevent burn and electrical accidents and 14 for interventions to prevent traffic accidents. Conclusion: To prevent accidents in children under five years of age, there is a need for comprehensive efforts. Proper education for parents, teaching children about safe behaviors, installing appropriate safety equipment, and paying attention to the living environment of children can help reduce accidents in these children.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the health and treatment departments of military organizations provided various services to control the pandemic,however, there were some challenges for the organization. This study explains the challenges in providing healthcare services in the COVID-19 pandemic from the managers’ viewpoints. Materials and Methods: In this study, a qualitative research method with a conventional content analysis approach was used. A total of 58 managers participated in this study. The participants included 8 senior managers, 23 middle managers, and 27 executive managers who were included in the study via the purposive sampling method. A semi-structured, in-depth individual interview with open questions was used to collect the data. Primary codes were extracted and compiled into main and sub-categories based on the codes. Results: The initial codes after integration with inductive content analysis included 4 main categories and 13 subcategories, including challenges in the field of mental health (unknown illness and mental problems of military personnel), a lack of risk perception (in executives and employees), intra-organizational challenges (lack of equipment, dysfunction of functional structure, lack of medicine and vaccine, lack of resources, inconsistency of information) and external challenges (disruption of social order and unity, the lack of reliable news information, change of national education program and inconsistency between organizations). Conclusion: The results of this study showed that managers of military organizations have faced important challenges in providing healthcare services. Carrying out measures to improve mental health, improving risk perception in managers and employees, and internal and external coordination can eliminate the weak points of the organization to manage similar incidents.

Background: Mental workload (MW) and occupational fatigue (OF) are among the harmful factors in the working environment of the emergency nursing profession, which can be related to the quality of care provided and job stress (JS) in emergency nurses. Accordingly, this study investigates the relationship between MW, MF and JS in emergency nurses in 2023 in Ardabil, Iran. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted by measuring OF, JS and MW of emergency nurses in hospitals of Ardabil Province, Iran. Information was collected through a checklist that recorded the demographic information in addition to the NASA task load index, JS by Orly and Giordano and the Swedish OF inventory questionnaires. The statistical analysis was conducted by the SPSS software, version 22. Results: The mean mental state of the participants was 16. 7±3. 6. Meanwhile, 40% of nurses had a high mental load. The mean condition of the OF was high (49. 02±4. 2,23. 2%). Regarding JS, 45. 5%, 25. 9% and 28. 6% were the high, medium, and low levels, respectively. A direct and significant relationship was detected between MW, JS and OF (P<0. 05). Conclusion: The mean MW, JS and OF among emergency nurses were high. Almost half and about a quarter of the emergency nurses are under JS and OF, respectively. Therefore, to improve emergency nurses’ health conations, and productivity, and create safe conditions in emergencies, the control and management of this harmful occupational factor should be under continuous monitoring.

Background: It is important to provide reliable information to people during a pandemic to prevent social fear. In this regard, the present study investigates the counseling needs of people who call the COVID-19 hotline in Yazd Province, Iran. Materials and Methods: In this qualitative study, the summative content analysis method was used. Due to possible changes in the counseling needs of the callers over time, the researchers first randomly checked 5% of all calls received each day. Data saturation was obtained by examining 5% of calls that were randomly selected. After reading the recorded interviews, the selected words were counted and entered into an Excel file. The keywords were then ranked. All keywords that seemed to have similar content were placed in related groups. Results: A total of 1023 audio files were analyzed. About 1279 analysis units were extracted and categorized into 17 sub-categories and 4 main categories. Among these, 80% of the obtained analyzed units were assigned to 8 subclasses, namely counseling needs regarding the symptoms of the disease (35. 97%), patient care at home (9. 38%), ways of disease transmission (7. 27%), centers that provide services to patients (5. 94%), fear of visiting medical centers (5. 79%), reports of non-compliance with health protocols (5. 55%), personal protective equipment (5. 32%), disinfection of equipment and food (5. 08%) were included. Conclusion: Establishing a hotline during an epidemic is an easy and quick method. One of the missing links in such systems is the existence of a monitoring team and a suitable content production team. It is necessary to hear the calls received simultaneously or daily by a scientific committee and provide feedback to the respondents to identify the counseling needs of the community members.

Background: Emergency medical personnel are among the people who play a major role in reducing the mortality and disability of the injured. This study determines the relationship between mental health and job satisfaction with professional ethics in emergency medical personnel. Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study included 126 emergency medical personnel in Hamadan City, Iran. The data were collected using a 3-part demographic information questionnaire, the 28-item general health questionnaire, the Barry Field and Ruth job satisfaction questionnaire and the Cadozier professional ethics questionnaire. The data were analyzed using Stata software, version 14. Meanwhile, the significance level was considered P<0. 05. Results: Most of the participants in the study were married (53. 17%), technicians (80. 95%), in contractual employment (75. 4%), with rotating shift type (84. 92%), had a bachelor’s degree (55. 56%) and were not satisfied with their monthly income (76. 98%). The results showed that the mean scores of mental health, professional ethics and job satisfaction were 50. 9, 81. 45 and 35. 58, respectively. There is a direct and significant relationship between mental health and professional ethics (P=0. 007, r=0. 24). Additionally, there is a direct and significant relationship between professional ethics and job satisfaction (P=0. 001, r=0. 41). However, no significant relationship was observed between mental health and job satisfaction (P=0. 24, r=0. 10). Conclusion: Mental health workshops and fun facilities can improve emergency medical personnel’s professional ethics and job satisfaction due to their direct relationship.