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The psycho-social challenges of working at the forefront of the Covid-19 pandemic : a survey of emergency care services personnel in the Eastern Cape EMS
No full textA dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Health Sciences in Emergency Medical Care, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2023.Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic, which emerged in early 2020, has caused a surge in patient numbers
and crippled healthcare systems. South Africa has had more than 2.9 million positive COVID-19
cases, resulting in over 89 000 deaths. Healthcare workers (HCWs) have been under
insurmountable mental and psychological pressure, leading to depression, anxiety and ultimately,
burnout. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel play a pivotal role in managing and caring
for ill and injured patients in the pre-hospital setting. These practitioners are at the forefront of the
fight against COVID-19. Despite the role they play in improving the health outcomes of these
patients, there is a paucity of research on the effect of COVID-19 on EMS personnel working and
living in the rural areas of low-and-middle-income countries like South Africa. Gaining insight into
the daily challenges faced by HCWs and the coping strategies adopted will assist EMS personnel
in mitigating physical and emotional stressors, as well as long-term psychological effects.
Aim of the study
To investigate the psycho-social influence of working at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic
amongst EMS personnel in the Eastern Cape.
Objectives
This study aimed to:
I. Identify the working conditions that exacerbate the stress of working within the context of
the COVID-19 pandemic;
II. Ascertain the factors that reduce stress amongst EMS personnel;
III. Identify the psychological stressors amongst EMS personnel in the Eastern Cape during
the COVID-19 pandemic;
IV. Identify the coping mechanisms/strategies used by EMS personnel in the Eastern Cape
during the COVID-19 pandemic; and
V. Make recommendations on providing support and improving the working conditions of
EMS personnel in the Eastern Cape.
Methodology
The study was conducted using a quantitative, cross-sectional descriptive survey design guided
by a post-positivist paradigm with a deductive approach. Data was collected from 368
participants who worked in the Eastern Cape during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Participants were presented with an online survey questionnaire, which was subsequently
analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) statistics software, and
the results were presented by tables, charts and descriptive summaries.
Results
An overwhelming 80.4% (n=296) of EMS personnel showed dedication to their work (patient
care), despite working under immense pressure. The findings showed moderate agreement to
different stressors, indicating that EMS personnel do not suffer from existential fears but are
somewhat worried about their own risk of infection and that of their family. The main stress factors
included the availability of PPE, infection and treatment protocols, recognition of their work by
EMS management, and the perceived risk of infection to themselves and others. Motivational
factors that encourage EMS personnel to work in future outbreaks or pandemics were not
significantly related to attitudes within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Conclusion
As a direct and immediate consequence of providing care to COVID-19-infected patients, frontline
HCWs put themselves at risk of various adverse physical and emotional effects. An already
stressful situation becomes extremely precarious as a result of the escalating negative impacts
on mental and physical health experienced by EMS personnel, a crucial demographic, used to
fight the pandemic. The findings of this study are consistent with what was already known from
previous studies conducted on HCWs during previous pandemics, thereby being relatively
predictable. This emphasizes the importance of basing pandemic planning and reactions on the
most current and reliable data.
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Postgraduate education in South African emergency care practitioners : a social realist study
No full textA thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy in Emergency Medical Care, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2024.INTRODUCTION
The paucity of research originating from low- and middle-income countries, particularly in
the field of emergency care, demands that those entrenched in the healthcare system go
on to make meaningful contributions to the knowledge economy of low- and middle income countries. While the rest of the world builds an appetite for highly skilled South
African prehospital practitioners, the emergency care field in South Africa desperately
needs practitioners who can engage with research and advance the profession through
evidence-based practice. Achieving this requires emergency care practitioners to embark
on postgraduate education programmes to learn research skills. Given the shortage of
emergency care practitioners in South Africa, the paucity of prehospital-specific research
and the large number of paramedics that pursue employment and education abroad,
understanding the factors that influence emergency care practitioner’s agency in pursuing
or eschewing postgraduate education is extremely important as this affects the paramedic
workforce and the development of the field in South Africa.
AIM
The study aimed to formulate a deeper understanding of why ECPs pursue or eschew
postgraduate education.
METHODS
The study made use of a mixed method exploratory sequential research design. Using
both quantitative and qualitative methods generated a thorough understanding of the
research problem in the given context. The qualitative phase constituted Phase 1 of the
study and used focus group discussions and one-on-one interviews with key stakeholders
in the emergency medical services. The findings of this phase informed the quantitative
phase (Phase 2) of the study, in which an online structured questionnaire was
administered to emergency care practitioners.
FINDINGS
More than half (54%) of the sample of emergency care practitioners pursued
postgraduate education. Among the 46% of emergency care practitioners who eschewed
postgraduate education, the majority applied their profession in South Africa. This study,
therefore, found a decrease in the likelihood of pursuing postgraduate education among
emergency care practitioners working in South Africa compared to those working abroad
(OR 0.57, CI: 0.25–1.25). The largest proportion (81%) of those who pursued
postgraduate education occupied roles within academia. Those emergency care
practitioners within operational (72.1%) and managerial (15.6%) roles constituted the
largest proportion of those who eschewed postgraduate education.
Structural conditions owing to the paucity of financial incentives (86%), support (57%)
and career progression pathways (92%) predominantly motivated emergency care
practitioners within the South African prehospital milieu to eschew postgraduate
education. Cultural conditions motivated emergency care practitioners, regardless of
location or area of speciality, to pursue postgraduate education. The constructs of the
individual or collectively held ideals, beliefs, and values were identified as the cultural
conditions, which are not easy to change and have lasting conditional influence among
emergency care practitioners.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the study established and presented, from the emergency care
practitioners’ point of view, the cultural and structural conditions that influence their
agency: motivations to pursue or eschew postgraduate education. The findings highlight
the structural and cultural dynamic and interchangeable nature and the overlap of the
prehospital milieu's values, practices and behaviours. It notably identified the
interconnections as all the practices and behaviours underpinned by the motivations
emerging from the prehospital milieu. The study further demonstrated that a
comprehensive and deeper understanding of how individuals interpret their structural and
cultural conditions, is essential. The objective goal of developing the profession is
interlinked with establishing institutional and cultural norms that capacitate and support
those within the profession.
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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