Coordinated Communications and Decision Making to Support a Regional Severe Infectious Disease Response.

Infectious disease response, particularly high-consequence acute infectious disease and special pathogen response, requires the coordination of numerous public and private entities to ensure the safety and appropriate care for patients, healthcare and EMS staff, and the public. The Northwest Healthcare Response Network, an independent 501(c)(3) healthcare coalition, has partnered with the local health departments in the Puget Sound area of Washington State to develop a communication and decision-making structure to support coordinated information sharing, patient care, patient transportation, laboratory testing, contact monitoring, and healthcare and EMS staff safety in events involving suspected or diagnosed acute infectious disease patients. The network has developed a comprehensive regional plan and associated tools outlining standard communication practices that include defining who will lead coordinated communications and decision making concerning patient care needs and how all partners will connect during an acute infectious disease response.

How to Choose? Using the Delphi Method to Develop Consensus Triggers and Indicators for Disaster Response.

Objective: 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.

Methods: 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.

Predicting outcome of drowning at the scene: A systematic review and meta-analyses.

Objective: To identify factors available to rescuers at the scene of a drowning that predict favourable outcomes.

Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Data Sources: PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library were searched (1979-2015) without restrictions on age, language or location and references lists of included articles.

Mycoplasma genitalium infection and female reproductive tract disease: a meta-analysis.

To determine the association between Mycoplasma genitalium infection and female reproductive tract syndromes through meta-analysis, English-language, peer-reviewed studies were identified via PubMed, Embase, Biosis, Cochrane Library, and reference review. Two reviewers independently extracted data. Random-effects models were employed to calculate summary estimates, between-study heterogeneity was evaluated using I(2) statistics, publication bias was assessed via funnel plots and the Begg and Egger tests, and methodologic quality was rated.