scholarly journals Incident Management Systems Are Essential for Effective Coordination of Large Disease Outbreaks: Perspectives from the Coordination of the Ebola Outbreak Response in Sierra Leone

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olushayo Oluseun Olu ◽  
Margaret Lamunu ◽  
Alexander Chimbaru ◽  
Ayotunde Adegboyega ◽  
Ishata Conteh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Incident Management ◽  
Outbreak Response

scholarly journals Incident Management Systems and Building Emergency Management Capacity during the 2014–2016 Ebola Epidemic — Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea

2016 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 28-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer C. Brooks ◽  
Meredith Pinto ◽  
Adrienne Gill ◽  
Katherine E. Hills ◽  
Shivani Murthy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Management ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Incident Management ◽  
Management Capacity

The CDC Field Epidemiology Manual

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Incident Management ◽  
The Public ◽  
Field Epidemiology ◽  
Field Investigations ◽  
Toxic Agents ◽  
Core Elements ◽  
Multiple State ◽  
Prompt Action ◽  
Collection And Management

The CDC Field Epidemiology Manual is the definitive resource for the most up-to-date guidance for epidemiologists and other experts conducting field investigations to address acute public health concerns that require prompt action. This latest edition (an update of the 3rd edition of the popular book Field Epidemiology, edited by Dr. Michael Gregg) offers practical advice to guide investigators through the core elements of field investigations, beginning with initiating operations and ending with developing interventions and communicating findings to the public. The manual also provides special considerations to address challenges that often arise during field investigations, such as addressing legal issues, working with multiple state and federal agencies, navigating a multinational outbreak investigation, and working within an incident management structure. The manual includes updated information on using new tools for field investigations, such as the latest technologies for data collection and management and incorporating data from geographic information systems (GIS). Finally, the manual includes tips for investigations in a wide variety of settings, including healthcare and community congregate settings, and different types of outbreaks, including acute enteric disease outbreaks, those suspected to be related to intentional use of biologic and toxic agents, and outbreaks of suicide, violence, and other forms of injury. The manual is written primarily for epidemiologists who will be conducting field investigations in local, state, federal, or international settings. However, others who contribute to field investigations (e.g., laboratory scientists, lawyers, experts in public policy and communications) will also find the book to be an excellent source of information. The manual is written in an easily readable format, including boxes and bulleted points, to provide greater utility for investigators in the field.

Impact of the Ebola epidemic on clinical outcomes of HIV-infected soldiers and their dependents in Sierra Leone

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 106-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Nagel ◽  
Michael J Blackowicz ◽  
Foday Sahr ◽  
Olamide D Jarrett
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Outcomes ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Hiv Treatment ◽  
Hiv Care ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Impact

The impact of the 2014–2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) treatment in Sierra Leone is unknown, especially for groups with higher HIV prevalence such as the military. Using a retrospective study design, clinical outcomes were evaluated prior to and during the epidemic for 264 HIV-infected soldiers of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) and their dependents receiving HIV treatment at the primary RSLAF HIV clinic. Medical records were abstracted for baseline clinical data and clinic attendance. Estimated risk of lost to follow-up (LTFU), default, and number of days without antiretroviral therapy (DWA) were calculated using repeated measures general estimating equations adjusted for age and gender. Due to missing data, 262 patients were included in the final analyses. There was higher risk of LTFU throughout the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone compared to the pre-Ebola baseline, with the largest increase in LTFU risk occurring at the peak of the epidemic (relative risk: 3.22, 95% CI: 2.22–4.67). There was an increased risk of default and DWA during the Ebola epidemic for soldiers but not for their dependents. The risk of LTFU, default, and DWA stabilized once the epidemic was largely resolved but remained elevated compared to the pre-Ebola baseline. Our findings demonstrate the negative and potentially lasting impact of the Ebola epidemic on HIV care in Sierra Leone and highlight the need to develop strategies to minimize disruptions in HIV care with future disease outbreaks.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the Nipah epidemic containment and multisectoral involvement in Kerala using an appropriate management framework

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 2813
Author(s):  
Asma A. Rahim ◽  
Sujina C. Muthukutty ◽  
Sabitha R. Jacob ◽  
Rini Ravindran ◽  
Jayakrishnan Thayyil ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Personnel ◽  
Viral Infections ◽  
Nipah Virus ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
State Level ◽  
The State ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Outbreak Response ◽  
Management Framework ◽  
The Government

Kozhikode district of North Kerala, India witnessed an outbreak of Nipah virus (NiV) in the month of May 2018. Two adjacent districts were affected leaving 17 patients dead out of the 19 confirmed. United Nations and WHO lauded the expeditious response of the state’s health system in the diagnosis and containment of the outbreak which was unprecedented. The authors being in the contact tracing and surveillance operation district team, had kept a record of timeline of events and actions at the state level, compiled the news clippings and tracked events. In the absence of an end‑of‑epidemic report for reference, these records served as a valuable tool for the present review. We used the Management science for health frame work tool (MSH framework) to evaluate the district and state coordinated actions which helped in curbing the outbreak. Though NiV outbreak in South India (2018) had similar epidemiological features to previous disease outbreaks, it stands out as the one to be detected and contained in a short span of time. As health personnel working in the government medical college of an affected district and directly involved in contact tracing operations and containment measures, exploring and sharing, what worked and how, in the context of multidisciplinary response and recovery attempts of the outbreak in the state may be beneficial to public health personnel and policy makers. This management framework may be replicated in the national and international context, particularly in South East Asian region under threat of emerging viral infections like COVID-19, lacking specific epidemic management frameworks for outbreak response and containment.

An Episode as a Trace of Resilient Performance in Large-Scale Incident Management Systems

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 787-787
Author(s):  
Changwon Son ◽  
Farzan Sasangohar ◽  
S Camille Peres ◽  
Sam Mannan
Keyword(s):  
Information Management ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
First Episode ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Incident Management ◽  
Time Duration ◽  
Common Information ◽  
Incident Data ◽  
Human Operators

Disasters have revealed persistent challenges for incident management systems in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from disruptive events. Such challenges have been reflected in recent catastrophic events such as natural disasters, industrial accidents, and terrorist attacks. To address the challenges, a need for resilience of incident management systems has been increasingly recognized (Comfort, Boin, & Demchak, 2010). Resilience is defined as a system’s capacity to adjust its performance before, during and after a disturbance (Hollnagel, Woods, & Leveson, 2007). From the theory of Joint Cognitive System (JCS), resilient performance is rendered through an interplay among the JCS triad: human operators, technological artifacts, and demands from the world (Hollnagel & Woods, 2005; Woods & Hollnagel, 2006). Hence, this study aims to identify resilient performance of an incident management system (e.g., Incident Management Team (IMT)) by investigating interac-tions among the JCS triad. The research team conducted two naturalistic observations at a high-fidelity emergency exercise facility and collected audio and video recordings from participants. These recordings were then weaved together to facilitate the analysis of interactions. To represent the interactions among humans and technological tools that cope with demands from an incident, an Interactive Episode Analysis (IEA) was developed and applied to the collected data. The IEA was designed to capture three C’s of an interaction: Context, Content and Characteristics. Context refers to an initiator, a receiver of the interaction, and a technology used. Content indicates actions and communications that occur between human operators and technical tools. Characteristics refer to frequency and time duration of the interaction. To identify the IMT’s performance to cope with incident demands, an episode was constructed after an inject (a piece of simulated information input) was given to the IMT. Using the IEA, two episodes were extracted as preliminary results. Both similar and different patterns of information management were observed. First, both episodes suggest that the IMT follows a common information flow: collecting incident data (e.g., field report), documenting the data, and disseminating the data to other members of the IMT. In both episodes, participants tended to use similar technologies for a certain information management task. For example, a telephone was used for collection of incident data, a photocopying machine (i.e., printer and photocopier) for documentation, and a paper form for dissemination. On the other hand, dissimilar patterns were captured. As members of I/I Unit in the second episode struggled to find out a preferred method of communication (e.g., paper vs. email), the members interacted with instructors that were not seen in the first episode. As such, the second episode took almost twice the duration of the first episode. The findings from the current study, albeit preliminary, suggest non-linear and dynamic interactions among emergency operators, technical tools, and demands from an incident. As Woods (2006) noted, resilience of a system may not be visible until the system faces disruptive events. In such regards, the IEA would serve as a tool to represent the system’s resilient performance after a work demand. In addition, the IEA showed promise as a diagnostic tool that examines the interactions among the JCT triad. To gather more evidence to support findings in the preliminary analysis, future research will focus on extracting more episodes from the collected data and identifying emerging patterns of resilient performance of the IMT.

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