Exploration of Factors Influencing Nurses' Preparedness and Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak.

Introduction And Objective: Nurses as the core of the health care workforce affect an organization's preparedness and response. This study explores the factors and unique determinants influencing nurses' preparedness and response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in Singapore.

Methods: This qualitative phenomenological study utilized purposive sampling and in-depth interviews with 10 registered nurses and two enrolled nurses who had worked or were still working in an infectious disease (ID) hospital during the COVID-19 outbreak at the point of recruitment.

Nosocomial infections among COVID-19 patients: an analysis of intensive care unit surveillance data.

Surveillance of nosocomial infections, like catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI), central line-associated bloodstream infection, possible ventilator-associated pneumonia and secondary bloodstream infections were observed to study the impact of COVID-19 outbreak in ICUs from Tan Tock Seng Hospital and National Centre for Infectious Diseases, Singapore between February and June 2020. Higher nosocomial infection rates were observed in COVID-19 patients, although it was not statistically significant. Moreover, COVID-19 patients seem to be more predisposed to CAUTI despite a higher proportion of non-COVID-19 patients having urinary catheters.

The Effect of Sample Site, Illness Duration, and the Presence of Pneumonia on the Detection of SARS-CoV-2 by Real-time Reverse Transcription PCR.

Background: The performance of real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) for SARS-CoV-2 varies with sampling site(s), illness stage, and infection site.

Methods: Unilateral nasopharyngeal, nasal midturbinate, throat swabs, and saliva were simultaneously sampled for SARS-CoV-2 rRT-PCR from suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19. True positives were defined as patients with at least 1 SARS-CoV-2 detected by rRT-PCR from any site on the evaluation day or at any time point thereafter, until discharge.

An exploration of the psychologic impact of contact isolation on patients in Singapore.

The purpose of this study was to explore the psychologic impact of contact isolation on patients in Singapore who were infected or colonized with multidrug-resistant organisms. Twenty cases were compared with 20 controls for their anxiety and depressive symptoms. Cases reported significantly higher levels of depression (t = 3.

Utility of repeated praziquantel dosing in the treatment of schistosomiasis in high-risk communities in Africa: a systematic review.

Background: Controversy persists about the optimal approach to drug-based control of schistosomiasis in high-risk communities. In a systematic review of published studies, we examined evidence for incremental benefits from repeated praziquantel dosing, given 2 to 8 weeks after an initial dose, in Schistosoma-endemic areas of Africa.

Methodology/principal Findings: We performed systematic searches of electronic databases PubMed and EMBASE for relevant data using search terms 'schistosomiasis', 'dosing' and 'praziquantel' and hand searches of personal collections and bibliographies of recovered articles.