scholarly journals Firefighters Fighting Germs - Evaluation of a Disinfecting Protocol for Use in the Fire Service

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. s519-s520
Author(s):  
Christine McGuire-Wolfe
Keyword(s):  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Department ◽  
Fire Service ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Emergency Medical ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Microbiological Techniques ◽  
Fire Stations ◽  
Cleaning And Disinfection ◽  
The Impact

Background: Pasco County Fire Rescue (PCFR) is a rapidly growing suburban fire department located in Florida. PCFR employs >500 firefighters (all cross-trained as either emergency medical technicians or paramedics) in 27 stations to provide both emergency medical services (EMS) and fire suppression response. Although multiple studies have established that pathogens are present in both apparatus and stations within the fire service, there is a knowledge gap regarding the effectiveness of cleaning and disinfecting protocols in this specific setting. Methods: In total, 65 high-touch surfaces in 11 vehicles (ambulances and engines) and common areas of 2 fire stations were swabbed before and after disinfection. Vehicle surfaces swabbed included seats, cabinet doors, door handles, stretchers, medical equipment, keyboard, steering wheels, shared headsets and hand rails. Inside the stations, the refrigerator handle, television remote, radio and alarm buttons, door handles, and locker handles were swabbed. Immediately following the initial swab collection, the surfaces were disinfected with hydrogen peroxide wipes and disinfectant cleaner sprayed through an electrostatic system. The same surfaces were then swabbed after disinfection. Colony-forming units (CFUs) were quantified using standard microbiological techniques by a third-party laboratory. Statistical analysis was performed on the resulting bacterial counts using Minitab version 18.1 software. Results: We detected statistically significant decreases in total bacteria, yeast, and mold counts following implementation of this disinfection protocol. The predisinfection mean of bacteria, yeast, and mold counts for all surfaces combined was reduced 96% after disinfection (from 254,637 CFU to 9,392 CFU). Conclusions: Cleaning and disinfection of surfaces in PCFR emergency vehicles and fire station common areas with the agents described above effectively reduced contamination with bacteria, yeast, and mold spores. The PCFR has implemented this disinfection protocol as a tool in eliminating EMS vehicles and the station environment as reservoirs of infection for patients, visitors, and firefighters. Future efforts will include assessing the impact of regular cleaning and disinfection on baseline levels of bacteria, yeast, and mold spores.Funding: This study was supported by Clorox.Disclosures: None

scholarly journals Boots and Bugs: The Beginning of an Intervention for Firefighters

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. s143-s144
Author(s):  
Christine McGuire-Wolfe
Keyword(s):  
Bacterial Contamination ◽  
Fire Service ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Emergency Medical Technicians ◽  
Emergency Medical ◽  
Fire Station ◽  
Fire Stations ◽  
Pasco County ◽  
Cleaning And Disinfection ◽  
Routine Cleaning

Background: Multiple studies have demonstrated that pathogens are present in both apparatus and stations within the fire service. Pasco County Fire Rescue’s (PCFR’s) 500+ firefighters routinely wear boots to trauma scenes and into patient’s residences and then into the dormitory and living areas of the fire stations. Pasco County Fire Rescue (PCFR) recently participated in a larger effort to identify the bacteria, yeast, and mold that firefighters, emergency medical technicians, and paramedics are exposed to on apparatuses and the station living environment during a typical shift. During these efforts to swab multiple touch points within apparatus (ambulances and engines) and common areas of the stations, firefighters’ boots were identified as a significant source of bacterial contamination. Methods: Swabs of 191 surfaces in 23 vehicles and 5 fire stations were collected, including 3 swabs from the bottom of firefighter boots. Results: Firefighter boots had the highest bacterial CFUs of all locations swabbed, with >900,000 and 378,000 CFUs per boot. Disinfection with a quaternary ammonium product sprayed through an electrostatic sprayer system effectively reduced the bacterial contamination on boots. Conclusions: PCFR recognizes firefighter boots as a critical vector of contamination between the environment encountered on emergency medical calls and the fire station environment and, as a result, has started a preliminary education campaign for agency firefighters regarding the need for regular boot disinfection. These efforts include regular submissions to the biweekly employee newsletter, as well as reminders on interoffice mailing envelopes (see example below) in hopes of increasing informal, self-directed boot cleaning and disinfection efforts. The next steps include verifying the effectiveness of specific disinfectant cleaners on boots; addressing logistical and practical barriers to routine cleaning and disinfection of boots; and developing, implementing, and evaluating a protocol for regular boot cleaning and disinfection.Funding: NoneDisclosures: None

What Is the Impact of Prior Authorization on the Incidence of Pediatric Tonsillectomy?

2020 ◽  
pp. 019459982096963
Author(s):  
Vanessa F. Torrecillas ◽  
Kaden Neuberger ◽  
Alexander Ramirez ◽  
Paul Krakovitz ◽  
Jeremy D. Meier
Keyword(s):  
Elective Surgery ◽  
Lag Time ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Health Claims ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Prior Authorization ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Impact

Objective Third-party payers advocate for prior authorization (PA) to reduce overutilization of health care resources. The impact of PA in elective surgery is understudied, especially in cases where evidence-based clinical practice guidelines define operative candidacy. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of PA on the incidence of pediatric tonsillectomy. Study Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Health claims database from a third-party payer. Methods Any pediatric patient who had evaluation for tonsillectomy from 2016 to 2019 was eligible for inclusion. A time series analysis was used to evaluate the change in incidence of tonsillectomy before and after PA. Lag time from consultation to surgery before and after PA was compared with segmented regression. Results A total of 10,047 tonsillectomy claims met inclusion and exclusion criteria. Female patients made up 51% of claims, and the mean age was 7.9 years. Just 1.5% of claims were denied after PA implementation. There was no change in the incidence of tonsillectomy for all plan types ( P = .1). Increased lag time from consultation to surgery was noted immediately after PA implementation by 2.38 days (95% CI, 0.23-4.54; P = .030); otherwise, there was no significant change over time ( P = .98). Conclusion A modest number of tonsillectomy claims were denied approval after implementation of PA. The value of PA for pediatric tonsillectomy is questionable, as it did not result in decreased incidence of tonsillectomy in this cohort.

Recruit firefighters: a longitudinal investigation of mental health and work

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-152
Author(s):  
Shannon Wagner ◽  
Romana Pasca
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Fire Department ◽  
Fire Service ◽  
Mental Health Symptoms ◽  
Workplace Exposure ◽  
Health Symptoms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
In Fire ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the contribution of work to self-reported mental health symptoms in fire service members. Design/methodology/approach In 2004, the first wave of this data collection was completed with all members of a fire department in a small northern center in British Columbia. The members completed a series of questionnaires measuring mental health, personality and satisfaction. Since 2004, all recruit members entering the department have also completed the same set of questionnaires shortly after hiring. Subsequently, in 2016–2017, the full sample, including recruit members, were invited to complete the Wave 2 data collection cycle, which included a set of questionnaires very similar to that collected in Wave 1. Findings The recruit sample reported significantly fewer mental health symptoms, as compared to career firefighters, at Time 1 (prior to workplace exposure). However, at Time 2 (after workplace exposure), no difference between the groups was evident. Research limitations/implications It is possible that recruit firefighters reported more positive mental health because of social desirability bias upon beginning a new job. Practical implications These results suggest that service as a firefighter could potentially have an impact on mental health and efforts should be made to mitigate this impact. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, the current research is the first study that has followed recruit firefighters longitudinally in an effort to prospectively evaluate the impact of workplace exposure on mental health.

scholarly journals INFLUENCE OF EMERGENCY MEDICAL STUDENTS TRAINING ON PREPAREDNESS TO PERFORM PAEDIATRIC LIFE SUPPORT

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 244-252
Author(s):  
Jerzy Kiszka ◽  
Dawid Filip ◽  
Piotr Wasylik
Keyword(s):  
Cardiac Arrest ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Life Support ◽  
Advanced Life Support ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Competence Development ◽  
Emergency Medical ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Post Test ◽  
The Impact

Aim: Assessment of the increase in knowledge in specific categories among students of the last-year emergency medical students after 45-hour training in advanced paediatric life support. Comparison of the impact of participation in the project and the ILS course on the increase of knowledge in the field of advanced life support in children. Material and methods: 138 third-year emergency medical students of the University of Rzeszów were studied. A proprietary questionnaire on paediatric life support was conducted before and after completing a 45-hour training on emergency medical services in children (pretest/posttest). Results: The mean percentage of subjects’ correct answers in the post-test was slightly over 60 which was statistically significantly higher compared to the pre-test, t(276)=6.54; p<0.001. The highest percentage of correct answers concerned paediatric basic life support and AED (M=77.78; SD=12.47), while the lowest – cardiac arrest in children in special situations (M=60.54; SD=21.06). No statistically significant relationship was found between the percentage of correct answers in the pre-test/post-test and the respondents’ age, gender and participation in a competence development project (p>0.05). Conclusions: The knowledge of paediatric life support among the third year emergency medical students is good. The students of subsequent years and individuals reading the literature and participating in the competence development project are better prepared to perform life support procedures in newborns and infants. From year to year, students gain less knowledge from medical literature and have the least knowledge on cardiac arrest in children in special circumstances.

scholarly journals Impact of Fire Demand on Fire Service Budget

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 125-134
Author(s):  
Wonjoo Lee ◽  
Jae Hoon Lim ◽  
Kwang Min Moon
Keyword(s):  
Disaster Preparedness ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
Preventive Measures ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Service ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Safety Education ◽  
In Fire ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Positive Effect

This paper aimed to statistically analyze the impact of fire needs not considered in previous reports based on preventive and preparedness strategies of fire administration and fire budget.. The panel data came from 16 metropolitan councils from 2008 to 2018 and was statistically analyzed based on the preventive measures of the fire administration (agreement for building permission, specific target for fire-fighting, public use facilities, and special fire inspection [SFI]), preparedness of the fire administration (fire safety education [FSE]), response of the fire administration (mobilization for fire suppression [MFS] and mobilization for ambulance service [MAS]), and fire budget. In the results, SFI, FSE, and MFS had a significant negative influence on the fire budget. Meanwhile, MAS had a significant positive effect on the fire budget (p < 0.01). These results reflect public policy in Korea; there has been a paradigm shift in fire administration: from disaster acceptance (focusing on recovery) to disaster response (focusing on field response) to disaster preparedness (focusing on preparedness).

scholarly journals The Impact of Japan Heatwave on Community Emergency Medicine in 2018

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (s1) ◽  
pp. s29-s30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yohei Iwasaki ◽  
Kosuke Kasai ◽  
Kenichi Hirukawa ◽  
Masato Kawakami
Keyword(s):  
Health Agency ◽  
Fire Department ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Air Conditioner ◽  
Strong Recommendation ◽  
Emergency Medical ◽  
Number Of Patients ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Hot Weather ◽  
The Impact

Introduction:Due to the heatwave in Japan, the number of patients with heatstroke transported via ambulance hit the highest record according to the Tokyo fire department in 2018. Now, heatwaves are thought to be a natural disaster. Emergency medical professionals located in a Tokyo suburb covering 40,000 individuals experienced a wide range of challenges in patient care with heatstroke.Aim:To assess the impact of the 2018 Japan heatwave on community emergency medical service.Methods:Patients (aged ≥ 16 years) with heatstroke and who were transported to our hospital by ambulance from June to September of 2018 were included. Data were derived from prehospital records and electronic medical records. Weather data was referenced from a Japanese meteorological agency.Results:The number of all-cause cases was 1,764, and the total number of heatstroke cases was 51 (2.9%). Heatstroke cases were concentrated in July and August of 2018. The rate of males was 69%. The average age was 63 ± 23 years. Physical labor was associated with 31% of cases, such as sports in 7.8%. Hospitalization was required in 24%. ICU admission was required in 9.8%. There was no fetal case directly caused by heatstroke in this survey.Discussion:The risk factors of heatstroke considered to be male and elderly. About one-half of heatstroke patients were over 70 years old, and it may have been related to regional characteristics. As mentioned in the Heatstroke STUDY 2012 (Miyake, 2014), most cases which occurred inside residences were found that there was no air conditioner use. There was also an increased number of patients with heatstroke who made emergency visits by themselves. Further investigation is needed annually to estimate the effect of climate change. It is important to make a strong recommendation from public health agency about heatstroke prevention, including air conditioner use during hot weather.

scholarly journals Analyzing the Impact of Live Chat Service Implementation on Customer Online Shopping Satisfaction

CONVERTER ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 308-324
Author(s):  
Susan (Sixue) Jia, Banggang Wu
Keyword(s):  
Customer Satisfaction ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Online Shopping ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Experience Goods ◽  
Return Of Investment ◽  
Live Chat ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Implementation Data ◽  
The Impact

A live chat service is a tool embedded in an online shopping website that allows online vendors to instantly communicate with consumers. Empirical quantification of how live chat affects customer satisfaction in an online shopping scenario facilitates the calculation of the return of investment of the implementation of the live chat service. To this end, this paper obtained 84405 pieces of purchase-and-comment data during 2010-2012 from a major online shopping websites in China, which implemented its live chat service in January, 2012. Results suggest that implementing live chat service can indeed improve customer satisfaction. Meanwhile, such effect is more pronounced for third-party brands, experience goods purchases, high perceived risk products, and cross-buying. This study contributes by pioneeringly conducting before-and-after comparison based on real implementation data, as well as offering critical suggestions to online shopping website managers regarding the decision and optimization of live chat service implementation.

ANALISIS PELAYANAN PENANGGULANGAN BENCANA KEBAKARAN OLEH PEMADAM KEBAKARAN PEMERINTAH (STUDI KASUS KOTA PONTIANAK)

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-62
Author(s):  
Hendayana S.stp
Keyword(s):  
Fire Department ◽  
Fast Response ◽  
Fire Service ◽  
Management Service ◽  
Service Levels ◽  
Five Dimensions ◽  
Fire Services ◽  
Fire Disaster ◽  
Fire Stations ◽  
The Government

Disasters are events that can occur anytime and anywhere, as well as fire disasters. Along with the frequent occurrence of fire disasters, it is necessary to provide effective, fast response services for fire disasters. Fires occur due to many factors. To reduce losses, it is necessary to improve services to fire services from the government which is one of the minimum services of the government. Analysis is a thinking activity to describe a whole as a component so that it can recognize the signs of components, their relationships with each other and their respective functions in an integrated whole. Service analysis is here to measure fire service levels in Pontianak City. This research is a descriptive qualitative research Measurement of service quality by using 5 (five) dimensions with several indicators of each dimension of Tangible, Reliabelity, Responsiviness, Assurance, Emphaty. Based on the results of research conducted stating that the fire disaster management service carried out by the Pontianak City Fire Department was not optimal This is because there are still problems faced by the Pontianak City Fire Department where firefighting organizations are not yet independent, lack of facilities and infrastructure, lack of resources humans, lack of fire stations, less attention to the apparatus regarding the safety guarantee of fire services especially.

Recent Changes in Annual Area Burned in Interior Alaska: The Impact of Fire Management

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. P. Calef ◽  
A. Varvak ◽  
A. D. McGuire ◽  
F. S. Chapin ◽  
K. B. Reinhold
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Temporal Analysis ◽  
Fire Service ◽  
Area Burned ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The Alaskan boreal forest is characterized by frequent extensive wildfires whose spatial extent has been mapped for the past 70 years. Simple predictions based on this record indicate that area burned will increase as a response to climate warming in Alaska. However, two additional factors have affected the area burned in this time record: the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) switched from cool and moist to warm and dry in the late 1970s and the Alaska Fire Service instituted a fire suppression policy in the late 1980s. In this paper a geographic information system (GIS) is used in combination with statistical analyses to reevaluate the changes in area burned through time in Alaska considering both the influence of the PDO and fire management. The authors found that the area burned has increased since the PDO switch and that fire management drastically decreased the area burned in highly suppressed zones. However, the temporal analysis of this study shows that the area burned is increasing more rapidly in suppressed zones than in the unsuppressed zone since the late 1980s. These results indicate that fire policies as well as regional climate patterns are important as large-scale controls on fires over time and across the Alaskan boreal forest.

Impact of Fire Attack Utilizing Interior and Exterior Streams on Firefighter Safety and Occupant Survival: Full-Scale Experiments

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Zevotek ◽  
◽  
Keith Stakes ◽  
Joseph Willi
Keyword(s):  
Fire Department ◽  
Air Entrainment ◽  
Fire Service ◽  
Full Scale ◽  
Test Structure ◽  
Fire Dynamics ◽  
Firefighter Safety ◽  
Residential Structures ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Fire Experiments

As research continues into how fire department interventions affect fire dynamics in the modern fire environment, questions continue to arise on the impact and implications of interior versus exterior fire attack on both occupant survivability and firefighter safety. This knowledge gap and lack of previous research into the impact of fire streams has driven the need for further research into fire department interventions at structure fires with a focus on hose streams and suppression tactics. As the third report in the project “Impact of Fire Attack Utilizing Interior and Exterior Streams on Firefighter Safety and Occupant Survival”, this report expands upon the fire research conducted to date by analyzing how firefighting tactics, specifically suppression methods, affect the thermal exposure and survivability of both building occupants and firefighters in residential structures. • Part I: Water Distribution • Part II: Air Entrainment • Part III: Full-Scale Residential Fire Experiments. This report evaluates fire attack in residential structures through twenty-six full-scale structure fire experiments. Two fire attack methods, interior and transitional, were preformed at UL’s large fire lab in Northbrook, IL, in a single-story 1,600 ft2 ranch test structure utilizing three different ventilation configurations. To determine conditions within the test structure it was instrumented for temperature, pressure, gas velocity, heat flux, gas concentration, and moisture content. Ad- ditionally, to provide information on occupant burn injuries, five sets of instrumented pig skin were located in pre-determined locations in the structure. The results were analyzed to determine consistent themes in the data. These themes were evaluated in conjunction with a panel of fire service experts to develop 18 tactical considerations for fire ground operations. As you review the following tactical considerations it is important to utilize both these research results and your per- sonal experience to develop your department’s polices and implement these considerations during structural firefighting.

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