The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led us to use virtual solutions and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). Recent studies have clearly demonstrated the role of AI in health care and medical practice; however, a comprehensive review can identify potential yet not fulfilled functionalities of such technologies in pandemics. Therefore, this scoping review study aims at assessing AI functionalities in the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022.

A systematic search was carried out in PubMed, Cochran Library, Scopus, Science Direct, ProQuest, and Web of Science from 2019 to May 9, 2022. Researchers selected the articles according to the search keywords. Finally, the articles mentioning the functionalities of AI in the COVID-19 pandemic were evaluated. Two investigators performed this process.

Initial search resulted in 9123 articles. After reviewing the title, abstract, and full text of these articles, and applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 4 articles were selectd for the final analysis. All 4 were cross-sectional studies. Two studies (50%) were performed in the United States, 1 (25%) in Israel, and 1 (25%) in Saudi Arabia. They covered the functionalities of AI in the prediction, detection, and diagnosis of COVID-19.

To the extent of the researchers’ knowledge, this study is the first scoping review that assesses the AI functionalities in the COVID-19 pandemic. Health-care organizations need decision support technologies and evidence-based apparatuses that can perceive, think, and reason not dissimilar to human beings. Potential functionalities of such technologies can be used to predict mortality, detect, screen, and trace current and former patients, analyze health data, prioritize high-risk patients, and better allocate hospital resources in pandemics, and generally in health-care settings.

To identify key decisions along the continuum of care (conventional, contingency, and crisis) and the critical triggers and data elements used to inform those decisions concerning public health and health care response during an emergency.

A classic Delphi method, a consensus-building survey technique, was used with clinicians around Washington State to identify regional triggers and indicators. Additionally, using a modified Delphi method, we combined a workshop and single-round survey with panelists from public health (state and local) and health care coalitions to identify consensus state-level triggers and indicators.

In the clinical survey, 122 of 223 proposed triggers or indicators (43.7%) reached consensus and were deemed important in regional decision-making during a disaster. In the state-level survey, 110 of 140 proposed triggers or indicators (78.6%) reached consensus and were deemed important in state-level decision-making during a disaster.

The identification of consensus triggers and indicators for health care emergency response is crucial in supporting a comprehensive health care situational awareness process. This can inform the creation of standardized questions to ask health care, public health, and other partners to support decision-making during a response. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:467–472)

Analyzing Hurricane Sandy emergency reports to assess the New York State (NYS) public health system response will help inform and improve future disaster preparedness and response.

Qualitative analysis of NYS Department of Health (NYSDOH) and Nassau and Suffolk County local health department (LHD) emergency reports was conducted. Three after-action reports and 48 situation reports were reviewed, grouped by key words and sorted into 16 Public Health Preparedness Capabilities. Within each capability, key words were labeled as strengths, challenges, or recommendations.

The NYSDOH capability most cited as a strength was successful emergency operations coordination, eg, interagency conference calls (27.4% of 1681 strengths). The most cited challenge was environmental health protection, eg, mold and oil spills (28% of 706 challenges). The LHD capability most cited both as a strength (46.7% of 30 strengths) and as a challenge (32.5% of 123 challenges) was emergency operations coordination. Strengths were exemplified by sharing local resources and challenges by insufficient memorandums of understanding for coordination.

Post-disaster emergency reports should be systematically reviewed to highlight both successes and areas for improvement. Future studies should prioritize collecting feedback from a wider spectrum of public health and service provider staff for planning of preparedness and response activities. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2015;10:308–313)

To assess local, state, federal, and global pandemic influenza preparedness by identifying pandemic plans at the local, state, federal, and global levels, and to identify any information technology (IT) systems in these plans to support critical care triage during an influenza pandemic in the Canadian province of Ontario.

The authors used advanced MEDLINE and Google search strategies and conducted a comprehensive review of key pandemic influenza Web sites. Descriptive data extraction and analysis for IT systems were conducted on all of the included pandemic plans.

A total of 155 pandemic influenza plans were reviewed: 29 local, 62 state, 63 federal, and 1 global. We found 70 plans that examined IT systems (10 local, 33 state, 26 federal, 1 global), and 85 that did not (19 local, 29 state, 37 federal). Of the 70 plans, 64 described surveillance systems (10 local, 32 state, 21 federal, 1 global), 2 described patient data collection systems (1 state, 1 federal); 4 described other types of IT systems (4 federal), and none were intended for triage.

Although several pandemic plans have been drafted, the majority are high-level general documents that do not describe IT systems. The plans that discuss IT systems focus strongly on surveillance, which fails to recognize the needs of a health care system responding to an influenza pandemic. The best examples of the types of IT systems to guide decision making during a pandemic were found in the Kansas and the Czech Republic pandemic plans, because these systems were designed to collect both patient and surveillance data. Although Ontario has yet to develop such an IT system, several IT systems are in place that could be leveraged to support critical care triage and medical response during an influenza pandemic. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2013;7:287-291)

The aim of this study was to assess and compare nurses’ and physicians’ knowledge of disaster management preparedness. An effective health-care system response to various disasters is paramount, and nurses and physicians must be prepared with appropriate competencies to be able to manage the disaster events.

This is a cross-sectional study. A total of 636 nurses and 257 physicians were recruited from 1 hospital in Saudi Arabia. Of them, 608 (95.6%) nurses and 228 (83.2%) physicians completed self-administered, online questionnaires. The questionnaire assessed participants’ sociodemographic data, and disaster management knowledge.

The findings revealed that participants had more knowledge regarding the disaster preparedness stage than mitigation and recovery stages. They also reported a need for advanced disaster training areas. A total of 10.1% of nurses’ and 15.6% of physicians’ overall knowledge is explained by their demographic and work-related characteristics.

Both nurses and physicians had to some extent knowledge regarding the information and practices required for disaster management process. It is proposed that hospital managers must look for opportunities to effectively adopt national standards to manage disasters and include nurses and physicians in major-related learning activities because experience has suggested a somewhat low overall perceived competence in managing disaster situations.

This hospital-based study aimed to evaluate the nutritional status and dietary habits, the amount of nutrients provided to the patients in the hospital and to detect the predictors of severity among COVID-19 patients in Jordan.

A hospital-based study (N = 367; mean age 42.3 y; SD 15.4; 66.0% men) was conducted between March 17 and July 25, 2020, in Prince Hamza Hospital. Data about socio-demographic, anthropometric, dietary habits, and macro- and micronutrients intake were collected from the patients’ medical files, and some missing data were collected by phone directly from the patients.

The results of the linear regression showed that only age was significantly and positively (ß = 0.454; P = 0.001) associated with severity of the disease among the study patients. Approximately 57% of the COVID-19 patients consumed 3 meals daily, while 31-34% consumed 1 to 2 snacks daily. The majority (64%) of the patients drank more than 5 cups of water daily. Around 24% of the patients complained of eating problems, such as taste and/or smell loss, low appetite, and swallowing difficulty. The intakes of the vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, and C, as well as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, selenium, and sodium, were within the recommended dietary allowances (RDA).

The servings of the 5 food groups as well as most of the macro- and micronutrient requirements were within the recommended intakes and RDA.

The spread of COVID-19 has made it difficult to provide training in medical treatment in a radiation disaster. In this study, we will examine the effects and challenges of using a hybrid approach that combines online and face-to-face components.

A total of 5 face-to face and 25 online medical staff participated in the training program. This program was conducted by using multiple cameras for live coverage, while protective clothing and decontamination kits had been sent in advance to the participants so that they could experience face-to-face and online learning at the same time.

Participants reported a high level of satisfaction and achievement with the style of delivery. They also experienced problems such as fatigue due to long hours, and dissatisfaction with the debriefing.

In designing new online training, it is necessary to consider the quantity and content of the program, and to take participant fatigue into consideration.

Health diplomacy has increasingly become a crucial element in forging political neutrality and conflict resolution and the World Health Organization has strongly encouraged its use. Global turmoil has heightened, especially in the Middle East, and with it, political, religious, and cultural differences have become major reasons to incite crises.

The authors cite the example of the human stampede and the deaths of over 2000 pilgrims during the 2015 annual Haj pilgrimage in Mecca.

The resulting political conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia had the potential to escalate into a more severe political and military crisis had it not been for the ministers of health from both countries successfully exercising “soft power” options.

Global health security demands critical health diplomacy skills and training for all health providers. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;page 1 of 4)

We study the effect of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in India and model the epidemic to guide those involved in formulating policy and building health-care capacity.

This effect is studied using the Susceptible-Exposed-Infected-Recovered (SEIR) compartmental model. We estimate the infection rate using a least square method with Poisson noise and calculate the reproduction number.

The infection rate is estimated to be 0.270 and the reproduction number to be 2.70. The approximate peak of the epidemic will be August 9, 2020. A 25% drop in infection rate will delay the peak by 11 d for a 1-mo intervention period. The total infected individuals in India will be 9% of the total population.

The predictions are sensitive to changes in the behavior of people and their practice of social distancing.

This study aimed to assess the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the ‘Disaster Response Self-Efficacy Scale (DRSES).’

This is a methodological study to validate the DRSES. Third and fourth grade nursing students participated in the study (n = 340). Construct validity was evaluated by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Reliability was assessed by internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Data were analyzed in SPSS 20.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) and IBM SPSS AMOS 21.0. (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA).

The content validity was 0.96, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.94, and the intraclass correlation coefficient for test-retest reliability was 0.95. The exploratory factor analysis revealed that 3 factors accounted for 59.4% of the explained variance. The factor loads ranged between 0.50 - 0.81. The construct validity was good (χ2/df = 2.54; RMSEA = 0.067; CFI = 0.93; NFI = 0.95; GFI = 0.93; TLI = 0.94; IFI = 0.92; P < 0.001).

The results of this study show that the Disaster Response Self-Efficacy Scale is a valid and reliable tool that could be used to determine the nursing students’ disaster response self-efficacy.