Fight or Flight: Emergency Health Care Workers' Willingness to Work during Crises and Disasters. A Cross-Sectional Multicenter Study in the Netherlands.

Objective: Expanding staff levels is a strategy for hospitals to increase their surge capacity. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether emergency health care workers (HCWs) are willing to work during crises or disasters, and which working conditions influence their decisions.

Methods: HCWs in the emergency departments (EDs) and intensive care units (ICUs) of 5 Dutch hospitals were surveyed about various disaster scenarios.

Major Internal Fires in Dutch Hospitals: A Scoping Review.

Objectives: Fires are among the most feared incidents that can occur in a hospital. Hospital fires will disrupt care continuity, may require the evacuation of patients and have the potential to result in injuries or even deaths. The aim of this study is to gain insight into hospital fires in the Netherlands over a 20-year period.

Patient, caregiver and professional views on preventable emergency admissions of older patients, a multi-method study in three Dutch hospitals.

Background: Older adults are too often hospitalized from the emergency department (ED) without needing hospital care. Knowledge about rates and causes of these preventable emergency admissions (PEAs) is limited. This study aimed to assess the proportion of PEAs, the level of agreement on perceived preventability between physicians and patients, and to explore their underlying causes as perceived by patients, their relatives, and the admitting physician.

Preparing for future pandemics: frailty associates with mortality in hospitalised older people during the entire COVID-19 pandemic, a Dutch multicentre cohort study.

Purpose: Viral mutations and improved prevention or treatment options may have changed the association of frailty with mortality throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We investigated how associations of frailty with in-hospital mortality changed throughout the pandemic in older people hospitalised for COVID-19.

Methods: The COVID-OLD study included COVID-19 patients aged ≥ 70 years hospitalised during the first (early 2020), second (late 2020), third (late 2021) or fourth wave (early 2022).

Worldwide Trends in COVID-19-Related Attacks Against Healthcare: A Review of the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition Database.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, violence targeting healthcare reportedly increased. Attacks against healthcare can severely hamper the public health response during a pandemic. Descriptive data analysis of these attacks may be helpful to develop prevention and mitigation strategies.

Development and validation of a risk prediction model for hospital admission in COVID-19 patients presenting to primary care.

Background: There is a paucity of prognostic models for COVID-19 that are usable for in-office patient assessment in general practice (GP).

Objectives: To develop and validate a risk prediction model for hospital admission with readily available predictors.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study linking GP records from 8 COVID-19 centres and 55 general practices in the Netherlands to hospital admission records.

The Incidence of Pulmonary Embolism in Hospitalized Non-ICU Patients with COVID-19 during the First Wave: A Multicenter Retrospective Cohort Study in the Netherlands.

Introduction: During the first COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 in the Netherlands, the incidence of pulmonary embolism (PE) appeared to be high in COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). This study was performed to evaluate the incidence of PE during hospital stay in COVID-19 patients not admitted to the ICU.

Methods: Data were retrospectively collected from 8 hospitals in the Netherlands.

Attacks on Ukrainian healthcare facilities during the first year of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Background: Although the Geneva Conventions and Rome Statute demand protections for healthcare facilities during war, breaches of these protections are frequently reported. The ongoing war in Ukraine is no exception, with several healthcare attacks eliciting widespread condemnation. The Ukrainian Healthcare Center (UHC) has been collecting, verifying and documenting attacks on health infrastructure since the Russia-Ukraine War was launched.

The Right to Refuse: Understanding Healthcare Providers' Perspectives on Patient Autonomy in Emergency Care.

Healthcare providers in prehospital care and emergency departments are often at the frontline of medical crises, facing a range of ethical dilemmas, particularly when it comes to patients refusing treatment. This study aimed to delve into the attitudes of these providers toward treatment refusal, unearthing the strategies they employ in navigating such challenging situations while actively working in prehospital emergency health services. Our findings showed that, as the participants' age and experience increased, so did their inclination to respect patient autonomy and avoid persuading them to change their decision about treatment.

Hacking Acute Care: A Qualitative Study on the Health Care Impacts of Ransomware Attacks Against Hospitals.

Study Objective: Cyberattacks are an increasing threat to health care institutions which potentially impair patient outcomes. Current research is limited and focuses mainly on the technical consequences, whereas little is known about health care staff experiences and the effect on emergency care. This study aimed to explore the acute care effect of several large ransomware attacks against hospitals that occurred in Europe and the United States between 2017 and 2022.

An Epidemiological Analysis of Terrorist Attacks in the Nordic and Baltic Countries from 1970 through 2020.

Background: Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, and the recent Russo-Ukrainian war that started in 2022, were triggers that radically changed the perception of security in the Nordic and Baltic countries. The on-going Russian hybrid war has resulted in a renewed global interest in the safety and security of many countries (eg, the Nordic-Baltic Eight). The prospective North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) membership of Finland and Sweden may drastically change the regional military and political landscape.

Prevalence and risk factors of burden among caregivers of older emergency department patients.

The number of older individuals that live independently at home is rising. These older individuals often rely on caregivers who have a similar age and health status. Therefore, caregivers may experience a high burden.

Reducing Violence in Riyadh's Emergency Departments: The Critical Role of Healthcare Providers.

Emergency department staff are at high risk of experiencing violence and aggression from patients and visitors, which can have negative impacts on healthcare providers in the ED. The aim of this study was to explore the role of healthcare providers in addressing local violence in Riyadh EDs and investigate their preparedness for managing violent incidents. We used a descriptive, correlational design with survey methodology to collect data from a convenience sample of nurses, ED technicians, physicians, and advanced practice providers in Riyadh city's EDs.

Terrorist Attacks against Health Care Targets that Provide Abortion Services.

Introduction: Terrorist attacks against hospitals and health care providers have disproportionally increased during the last decades. A significant proportion of these attacks targeted abortion clinics and abortion providers. In the light of the overturning of in 2022, an increase of anti-abortion terrorist attacks is anticipated.

Association of Heart Rate Variability with Pulmonary Function Impairment and Symptomatology Post-COVID-19 Hospitalization.

The persistence of symptoms beyond three months after COVID-19 infection, often referred to as post-COVID-19 condition (PCC), is commonly experienced. It is hypothesized that PCC results from autonomic dysfunction with decreased vagal nerve activity, which can be indexed by low heart rate variability (HRV). The aim of this study was to assess the association of HRV upon admission with pulmonary function impairment and the number of reported symptoms beyond three months after initial hospitalization for COVID-19 between February and December 2020.

Trauma-Related Clinical Practice Variation in Dutch Emergency Departments.

Structural insights in the use of protocols and the extent of practice variation in EDs are lacking. The objective is to determine the extent of practice variation in EDs in The Netherlands, based on specified common practices. We performed a comparative study on Dutch EDs that employed emergency physicians to determine practice variation.

A Review of Ambulance Terrorism on the African Continent.

Background: In recent decades, an increasing number of terrorist attacks have been carried out against medical institutions, hospitals, and health care workers. These attacks, that often result in high numbers of casualties and impaired access to health services, have a more significant impact on people's sense of security than attacks against military and police targets. Attacks on ambulances - especially on the African continent - have been sparsely studied.

First and second wave dynamics of emergency department utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic: A retrospective study in 3 hospitals in The Netherlands.

Objective: During certain phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, a decrease was observed in emergency department (ED) utilization. Although this phenomenon has been thoroughly characterized for the first wave (FW), second wave (SW) studies are limited. We examined the changes in ED utilization between the FW and SW, compared to 2019 reference periods.

Hybrid warfare and counter-terrorism medicine.

Introduction: March 9, 2022. An airstrike by Russian forces destroying a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine. The image of a severely injured pregnant woman covered in blood being stretchered away against the backdrop of destroyed buildings.

Atypical presentation of COVID-19 in older patients is associated with frailty but not with adverse outcomes.

Purpose: Older patients with COVID-19 can present with atypical complaints, such as falls or delirium. In other diseases, such an atypical presentation is associated with worse clinical outcomes. However, it is not known whether this extends to COVID-19.