Disaster literacy, which is a concept involved in moral quality, knowledge, and ability, impacts the disaster response. This study aimed to evaluate disaster education needs and to determine the affecting factors of disaster literacy among college students.

A cross-sectional study was conducted through questionnaires. A total of 7200 college students from 10 colleges and universities in 5 provinces and cities in China were investigated.

Disaster education needs were urgently. For the participants, 79.43% stated that their families were not prepared for disaster prevention items, 96.36% suggested a campus emergency rescue team, and 88.64% obtained disaster knowledge through TV or Internet, and only 12.89% had offered relevant courses in their disciplines. The total scores of college students’ disaster literacy were 87.85 ± 19.86, which was at a low level. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that age, major, grade, place of residence, parental education, mother’s occupation, disaster experience, disaster training experience, and family disaster preparedness significantly affected college students’ disaster literacy, especially grade, family disaster preparedness, and place of residence.

College students’ disaster literacy education is urgently needed. Families, communities, colleges and the government should attach importance to disaster literacy education for college students.

The primary objective of this exercise was to conduct a full-scale functional exercise utilizing an active-shooter-based scenario to test and evaluate hospital response and coordination with local law enforcement.

A multidisciplinary group, including community partners, formulated objectives in accordance with the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program and defined a scenario. A date to conduct the exercise was chosen on the basis of the expected completion of a large section of the new emergency department but prior to its opening for patient care.

The exercise highlighted several strengths, but more importantly, illuminated areas for improvement that might otherwise have been missed in tabletop exercises and smaller-scale drills. Educational opportunities to improve functional skills and protocol were recognized.

Conducting a full-scale functional exercise of an active shooter in a newly constructed emergency department prior to opening for patient care provided valuable insight into areas for improvement while minimizing the impact such an exercise can have on daily operations. Should a similar opportunity arise as a result of new facilities being developed or renovations and maintenance requiring temporary closure, we advise hospitals to consider planning an exercise in the area prior to reopening for patient care. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:522–525)

Biological hazards are one of the most important and common types of hazards in emergencies and disasters. Hospital preparedness measures for biological hazards are essential for a proper response and mitigation of its effects. The aim of this systematic review is to investigate hospital preparedness measures for biological hazards.

For this research, electronic databases including Web of Science, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, ProQuest, Google Scholar, and Cochrane Library from March 1950 to June 2019 were searched. Key words such as hospital, emergency department, preparedness, plan, management, and biological hazards were used in combination with the Boolean operators OR and AND. A thematic synthesis approach through the use of MAXQDA software was applied to analyze the data.

In total, 5257 articles were identified, in which 23 articles meet the inclusion criteria for entering the process of final analysis. The findings showed three main administrative, specialized, and logistical issues regarding preparedness measures for biological hazards in hospitals.

Hospital preparedness for biological hazards is one of the most important hospital disaster plans. Results of this systematic review present valuable advice for policy-makers and hospital managers to prepare and enhance hospital performance against biological hazards.

The aim of this study was to enhance public health preparedness for incidents that involve the large-scale release of a hazardous substance by examining factors likely to influence public responses to official guidance on how to limit their exposure.

An online demographically representative survey was conducted in the United Kingdom (n = 601) and Poland (n = 602) to test the strength of association of trust in authorities, anxiety, threat, and coping appraisals with the intention to comply with advice to shelter in place following a hypothetical chemical spill. The impact of ease of compliance and style of message presentation were also examined.

Participants were more likely to comply if at home when the incident happened, but message presentation had little impact. Coping appraisals and trust were key predictors of compliance, but threat appraisals were associated with noncompliance. Anxiety was seen to promote behavioral change. UK participants were more likely to comply than Polish participants.

Successful crisis communications during an emergency should aim to influence perceptions regarding the efficacy of recommended behaviors, the difficulties people may have in following advice, and perceptions about the cost of following recommended behaviors. Generic principles of crisis communication may need adaptation for national contexts. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2013;7:65-74)

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic was initiated in Wuhan Province of mainland China in December 2019 and has spread over the world. This study analyzes the effects of COVID-19 based on likely positive cases and fatality in India during and after the lockdown period from March 24, 2020, to May 24, 2020.

Python has been used as the main programming language for data analysis and forecasting using the Prophet model, a time series analysis model. The data set has been preprocessed by grouping together the days for total numbers of cases and deaths on few selected dates and removing missing values present in some states.

The Prophet model performs better in terms of precision on the real data. Prediction depicts that, during the lockdown, the total cases were rising but in a controlled manner with an accuracy of 87%. After the relaxation of lockdown rules, the predictions have shown an obstreperous situation with an accuracy of 60%.

The resilience could have been better if the lockdown with strict norms was continued without much relaxation. The situation after lockdown has been found to be uncertain as observed by the experimental study conducted in this work.

Two category 5 storms hit the US Virgin Islands (USVI) within 13 days of each other in September 2017. This caused an almost complete loss of power and devastated critical infrastructure such as the hospitals and airports

The USVI Department of Health conducted 2 response Community Assessments for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPERs) in November 2017 and a recovery CASPER in February 2018. CASPER is a 2-stage cluster sampling method designed to provide household-based information about a community’s needs in a timely, inexpensive, and representative manner.

Almost 70% of homes were damaged or destroyed, 81.2% of homes still needed repair, and 10.4% of respondents felt their home was unsafe to live in approximately 5 months after the storms. Eighteen percent of individual respondents indicated that their mental health was “not good” for 14 or more days in the past month, a significant increase from 2016.

The CASPERs helped characterize the status and needs of residents after the devastating hurricanes and illustrate the evolving needs of the community and the progression of the recovery process. CASPER findings were shared with response and recovery partners to promote data-driven recovery efforts, improve the efficiency of the current response and recovery efforts, and strengthen emergency preparedness in USVI. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2019;13:53-62)

The aim of this report is to identify from the literature common themes relating to the concept of hospital preparedness for emergencies to develop an agreed framework for evaluation.

A systematic literature search identified appropriate articles for critical appraisal. A meta-ethnography approach was used to synthesize the findings, using both reciprocal translation and line-of-argument synthesis.

From an initial 2162 articles, we identified 13 articles that specifically addressed the aims of this review and formed the basis of the intended analysis.

Hospital emergency preparedness is essential for effective disaster relief. Developing a systematic and structured methodology is necessary to assess hospital preparedness. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness: 2014:0:1-9)

Through the application of the Health Belief Model, this study sought to explore how relationships between perceived susceptibility, severity, and benefits of social distancing recommendations, as well as psychological factors, may impact compliance with COVID-19 social distancing recommendations in the United States.

Between October and November 2020, a convenience sample of English-speaking adults in the United States completed an online, cross-sectional survey which included items assessing beliefs around threats (e.g., perceived susceptibility and severity), response efficacy (e.g., perceived benefits), psychological factors (e.g., stress and COVID-specific anxiety), and compliance with social distancing measures (e.g., avoiding social gatherings).

Social distancing compliance was positively associated with perceived susceptibility of COVID-19 (b = 0.42, P < 0.05) and perceived benefits of social distancing recommendations (b = 0.81, P < 0.01). No significant associations were found between perceived severity of COVID-19 (P = 0.38), general stress (P = 0.28), COVID-19-related anxiety (P = 0.12), and compliance.

Findings suggest that perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 and perceived benefits of social distancing measures significantly increased compliance with social distancing recommendations in this convenience sample of U.S. adults.

The main objective of this study was to summarize the Hybrid War’s core characteristics and humanitarian and medical impacts.

A Systematic Literature Review according to PRISMA guidelines, using the following keywords, ‘Hybrid War,’ ‘Humanitarian Law,’ ‘Human Rights,’ ‘Lawfare,’ and search engines PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Gothenburg University’s database to collect literature from 2000 to 2022 in English was conducted. The eligibility of qualified articles was assessed, an inductive qualitative thematic analysis was applied, and the scientific evidence of each selected piece was evaluated.

The objectives of a Hybrid War are to achieve the tactical and strategic goals in a battle rather than to save civilian lives. It involves networks of state and non-state actors with various means of military and militia influences and strategies, creating difficulties in implementing, controlling, and evaluating the International Humanitarian Law’s “A State responsibility” principle, to gain insight into an armed conflict. It targets populated civilian areas and raises ethical and moral concerns by using Lawfare.

Hybrid War’s multi-domain action should be met with multi-dimensional approaches and a doctrine of ‘acceptable losses.’ Its characteristics and consequences should be learned and taught. Several measures need to be implemented to counteract its impacts, and a flexible surge capacity should be designed, planned, and executed.

To document the lived experience of Italian pediatric emergency physicians during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

We developed a structured interview to collect the lived experience of the staff of the pediatric emergency department (PED) of a tertiary referral university hospital in Northern Italy. The open-ended questions were draft according to the suggestions of Canadian colleagues and administered by 1 interviewer, who was part of the PED staff, at the end of March 2020. All the PED staff was interviewed, on a voluntary basis, using purposive sampling.

Most respondents declared to be afraid of becoming infected and of infecting their families. The number of patients seen in the PED has decreased, and the cases tend to be more severe. A shift in the clinical approach to the ill child has occurred, the physical examination is problem-oriented, aiming to avoid un-necessary maneuvers and to minimize the number of practitioners involved. The most challenging aspects reported are: (1) performing a physical examination in personal protective equipment (PPE), (2) being updated with rapidly evolving guidelines, and (3) staying focused on the possible COVID-19 clinical presentation without failing in differential diagnosis.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems that pediatric emergency physicians are radically changing their clinical practice, aiming at prioritizing essential interventions and maneuvers and self-protection.

Coordination is a major challenge in the field of health in disasters, mostly because of the complex nature of health-related activities.

This was a qualitative study based on the grounded theory approach. A total of 22 experts in the field of health in disasters participated in the study. The data were collected through in-depth interviews and literature review. The collected data were then analyzed by use of MAXQDA 2010 software (VERBI Software GmbH).

The lack of a strategic view in the field of health in disasters, a lack of coordination of necessities and infrastructures, insufficient enforcement, a higher priority given to an organizational approach rather than a national approach, and the field of disasters not being a priority in the health system were noted as barriers to inter-organizational coordination. The facilitators of inter-organizational coordination noted were the importance of public participation in the field of health in disasters, having a process and systematic view in the field of health in disasters, the necessity of understanding and managing resources and information in the field of health in disasters, and having a feedback and evaluation system in the health system after disasters.

It is recommended that developing common beliefs and goals be given priority in making plans and policies in the field of health in disasters. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:318–325)

To retrospectively analyze the rescue and treatment of pediatric patients by the Chinese Red Cross medical team during the Nepal earthquake relief.

The medical team set up a field hospital; the pediatric clinic consisted of 1 pediatrician and several nurses. Children younger than 18 years old were placed in the pediatric clinic for injury examination and treatment.

During the 7-day period of medical assistance (the second to third week after the earthquake), a total of 108 pediatric patients were diagnosed and treated, accounting for 2.8% of the total patients. The earthquake-related injuries mainly required surgical dressing and debridement. No severe limb fractures or traumatic brain injuries were found. Infection of the respiratory tract, the gastrointestinal tract, and the skin were the most common ailments, accounting for 42.3%, 18.5%, and 16.7%, respectively, of the total treated patients.

Two to 3 weeks after the earthquake, the admitted pediatric patients mainly displayed respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. When developing a rescue plan and arranging medical resources, we should consider the necessity of treating non–disaster-related conditions. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;page 1 of 4)