The Kahramanmaraş earthquakes struck the north-eastern part of Türkiye and Syria on February 6, 2023. It is well known that timely coordination and provision of emergency medical care in the field is particularly important to save lives after earthquakes. This study aimed to identify the challenges faced by medical responders on the ground.

This exploratory-descriptive qualitative study was conducted in Hatay, the province most affected by the earthquakes. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and field observations, and then analyzed using thematic analysis approach.

The study was carried out with 15 first responders from the medical profession. The study revealed 9 themes of challenges faced by medical responders: providing safety and security, human resources management, meeting personal needs, recording data, communication, patient transport, burial procedures, psychological acumen, and logistical problems. Some problems were resolved after 72 h and some continued until day 7.

Inadequate organization of volunteer health workers, communication breakdowns, and logistical problems are some of the main challenges. To address these issues, satellite phones and radio systems can be promoted, as well as disaster-resilient logistical planning and better coordination of volunteers.

Little prospectively assessed post-disaster longitudinal research has been done on mental health (MH) outcomes of disaster rescue and recovery workers. This longitudinal prospective study, which is examining first responders to a terrorist bombing in Oklahoma City after nearly a quarter century, was conducted to investigate their long-term MH outcomes using full diagnostic assessments. This will most accurately inform planning for longitudinal MH care needs.

Longitudinal follow-up interviews of 124 rescue and recovery workers, from an original volunteer sample of 181 volunteer workers, were completed 3 years after the bombing, and reassessed 23 years after using consistent research methods. Structured diagnostic interviews were conducted at both assessments, but these were limited to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) with additional questions about alcohol use, problems, and major psychosocial problems of life at follow up.

Initially, the rescue and recovery workers had a lower prevalence of post-disaster PTSD and MDD than directly exposed survivors. They also showed higher rates of PTSD than MDD. However, over time, PTSD increased a little while MDD increased 4-fold though fewer than 50% of the cases were remitted.

Low remission and increasing MDD provide incentives for surveillance and availability of treatment for decades after disaster, regardless of whether they were pre-existing conditions or disaster related.

Medical Reserve Corps’ volunteers underwent stop-the-bleed, triage, and disaster preparedness training to improve victim survival of a mass casualty event.

Volunteer responses to 16 disaster vignettes were recorded as ‘survived’ if correct, or ‘died’ if incorrect. Volunteers’ characteristics were evaluated based on the health outcomes of the vignette victims via logistic regression.

Overall, 69 volunteers evaluated 1104 vignette victims. STB training significantly improved survival from 77.2% to 93.2% (P < 0.001). The training did not improve disaster preparedness (75.5% to 73%) nor triage (33.5% to 35.1%). Volunteer first care provider training in psychological first aid improved victim survival from 10.32 (9.6 - 10.9, 95% CI) to 11.9 (11.28 - 12.5, 95% CI). The odds of survival increased when disaster victims received first care from a volunteer who had a positive perception of the public authority’s truthfulness (1.50, range 1.07 - 2.10); stated a willingness to volunteer (1.65, range 1.2 - 2.26); completed psychological first aid training (1.557, range 1.08 - 2.22); or had 4-or-more years of post-secondary education (1.30, range 1.00 - 1.701).

Psychological first aid training should be a basic requirement for disaster volunteers. Trust in public authority to provide protective public health recommendations increases disaster survival.

This study aims to assess the knowledge and awareness, and to identify the practice reflection of knowledge concerning Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) on hospital visitor’s daily life.

A cross-sectional study, conducted in 2 tertiary referral hospitals in Riyadh Saudi Arabia, from February 2015 to February 2016. A total random sample of 305 hospital visitors consented to participate. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire consisting of questions regarding awareness and practice of measures to prevent the spread of infection.

Study showed that participants have a fair knowledge regarding the cause of MERS (N = 228; 74.8%). Nearly half of them (47%) stated that camels are the source of the spread of MERS. Approximately 70% of the participants preferred both sanitization and wearing facemasks as preventive measures for MERS. However, only 3.95% practiced not eating camel products, such as milk and meat.

Although hospital visitors showed some knowledge and positive awareness in several aspects of MERS awareness, there are weak areas where knowledge and awareness were not up to recommended guidelines. Continued educational programs are needed to improve awareness and knowledge of all the public toward MERS-coronavirus infection. This study may assist in the development of future strategies on preventive measures of the disease.

Vaccine acceptance and trust in vaccines pose a complex process affected by many factors. The present study was conducted to determine coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine acceptance, trust in vaccines, anxiety levels, and related factors in Turkish society.

The data of this cross-sectional and descriptive-correlational study were collected with the snowball method by using an online questionnaire throughout Turkey. The study was conducted between March 15 and April 3, 2021, with 3148 participants from 7 regions and 81 cities in Turkey.

It was found that the participants accepted the vaccine at 72.8%, and the trust rate in the vaccine was 66.0%. It was also found that women, single participants, those who had immune system diseases, and with COVID-19 had higher Coronavirus Anxiety Scale scores at significant levels. According to Logistic Regression Analysis, gender, age, trust in the vaccine, perception of risk levels regarding COVID-19, and coronavirus anxiety levels are factors affecting the intentions of participants to accept/reject the vaccine. It was determined that male participants were more likely to accept the coronavirus vaccine (P = 0.028). It was found that health-care employees had higher trust in the coronavirus vaccine (P = 0.006) and acceptance rates (P = 0.010) at significant levels compared with the general population.

The COVID-19 vaccine acceptance rate in Turkish society was found to be high, and the level of trust in vaccines and anxiety levels were above the moderate level.

This study examined how the multidimensional negative coronavirus disease (COVID-19) impacts contextualized the age differences in psychological distress following exposures to tornadoes and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Data were from a 2-wave panel study conducted at T1 (October 2020–August 2021) and T2 (May–August 2022). Latent class analysis was conducted to explore the patterns of negative COVID-19 impacts based on a sample of 1134 at T1. Negative binomial regressions were performed to examine the age differences in psychological distress at T2, based on the working sample (N = 554), as well as the moderating effect of identified class membership, with baseline psychological distress controlled.

Three latent classes were identified: class 1 “low overall impacts,” class 2 “moderate overall impacts with high emotional distress,” and class 3 “severe overall impacts.” Individuals ages 65 and over reported lower psychological distress at T2 relative to those ages 18–34 and 35–49. However, compared to people ages 18–34, 35–49, and 50–64, those ages 65 and over reported the greatest increases in T2 psychological distress if they had experienced moderate or severe overall COVID-19 impacts at T1.

There is a pressing need for mental health interventions that are tailored to multi-disaster scenarios and age-related differences in long-term disaster recovery.

To compare actual patient presentation rates from Belgium’s largest public open-air cultural festival with predictions provided by existing models and the Belgian Plan Risk Manifestations model.

Retrospectively, actual patient presentation rates gathered from the Ghent Festivities (Belgium) during 2013–2019 were compared to predicted patient presentation rates by the Arbon, Hartman, and PRIMA models.

During 7 editions, 8673000 people visited the Ghent Festivities; 9146 sought medical assistance resulting in a mean patient presentation rate (PPR) of 1.05. The PRIMA model overestimated the number of patient encounters for each occasion. The other models had a high rate of underprediction. When comparing deviations in predictions between the PRIMA model to the other models, there is a significant difference in the mean deviation (Arbon: T = 0.000, P < 0.0001, r = −0.8701; Hartman: T = 0.000, P < 0.0001, r = −0.869).

Despite the differences between the predictions of all 3 models, our results suggest that the PRIMA model is a valid tool to predict patient presentations to IEHS during public cultural MG. However, to substantiate the PRIMA model even further, more research is needed to further validate the model for a broad range of MG.

Determining the health-care experiences, problems, and difficulties of nurses during a pandemic is important to shape the measures of nursing care management. This study aimed to better understand clinical nurses’ challenges and expectations surrounding coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

A qualitative study with semi-structured interviews was conducted. The study sampling comprised of 48 clinical nurses who have worked in pandemic hospitals. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and evaluated based on the content analysis method.

In this study, 6 main themes were determined as intrapersonal, interpersonal, institutional/organizational, community, policies and system challenges, and expectations. Based on the results, nurses’ perceived challenges were psychological distress, dilemma, safety and security issues, workload increased, disruption in family and social relationships, stigmatization encountered, and not making their voices heard enough due to the lack of nurses in the scientific advisory board. Nurses’ expectations were determined as improvement of their personal rights and institutional psychosocial support.

The results of this study can be used as a guide for action plans to support nurses, develop health-care protocols for safe patient care, and create family and pandemic support systems.

Rana Plaza building collapse is the worst industrial disaster of Bangladesh so far. The 9-storied structure collapsed suddenly on April 24, 2013, with more than 4000 people inside. Bangladesh Armed Forces played a key role in the massive rescue operations.

We conducted a cross-sectional study with 423 victims who were treated at a Combined Military Hospital to review the pattern of injuries and management provided.

Middle-aged (35±12.75 years) females (68.32%) were the majority of the victims. Among the injured, 42.35% had soft tissue injury, 22.55% had abrasions, 18.79% had fractures, 3.75% had facial injuries, and 2.5% each had head and abdominal injuries. We treated the injured with various surgical approaches, such as soft tissue debridement (38.84%), fasciotomy (18.79%), amputation (3.75%), and other procedures. We had to refer 8.27% of the patients to different advanced centers. The mortality rate was 5.91%, including 1 volunteer rescuer.

Pattern of injuries and modalities of management needed in an industrial disaster is a valuable experience which can be utilized in preparing to face disasters in the future and beyond. Death of a voluntary rescuer once again warrants the necessity of using a helmet and safety gear during any rescue operation. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:21–24)

To assess whether exposure to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DHOS) was related to parents’ self-rated health over time.

3 waves of panel data were drawn from the Gulf Coast Population Impact study (2014) and Resilient Children, Youth, and Communities study (2016, 2018).

Coastal Louisiana communities in high-impact DHOS areas.

Respondents were parents or guardians aged 18 - 84, culled from a probability sample of households with a child aged 4 to 18 (N = 526) at the time of the 2010 DHOS.

Self-rated health was measured at each wave. Self-reported physical exposure to the DHOS, economic exposure to the DHOS, and control variables were measured in 2014.

We used econometric random effects regression for panel data to assess relationships between DHOS exposures and self-rated health over time, controlling for potentially confounding covariates.

Both physical exposure (b = −0.39; P < 0.001) and economic exposure (b = −0.34; P < 0.001) to the DHOS had negative associations with self-rated health over the study period. Physical exposure had a larger effect size.

Parents’ physical contact with, and economic disruption from, the 2010 DHOS were tied to long-term diminished health.