Evaluating emergency service response to COVID-19: A scoping review.

Introduction: The issue of how emergency services (police, fire, ambulance, local authorities) respond to pandemics has received greater research focus recently in relation to the COVID-19 outbreak, which saw agencies going beyond usual roles to support communities for prolonged periods. A critical appraisal is needed of this published evidence to take stock of what is known about the effectiveness of emergency service response to Covid-19.

Method: A scoping review of scientific and grey literature identified 17 qualitative (N = 9), quantitative (N = 6), or mixed methods (N = 2) studies from across the UK and internationally that focus on the effectiveness of emergency service response to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Hazardous, harmful, and dependent alcohol use in healthcare professionals: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Healthcare professionals work in high-pressured and demanding environments, which has been linked to the use of alcohol as a coping strategy. This international review aimed (i) to determine the pooled prevalence of hazardous, harmful, dependent, and frequent binge drinking in healthcare professionals, and (ii) to explore factors associated with variation in these outcomes.

Methods: Scopus, MEDLINE, and PsycINFO were searched from 2003 to 17th November 2022, for studies reporting a prevalence estimate for any outcome among healthcare professionals.

Cost-benefit analysis of partnership working between fire and rescue and health services across England and Wales during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objectives: Fire and rescue services undertook a range of additional activities to support the National Health Service (NHS) in managing extreme service demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to examine the cost-benefit of partnership work between fire and rescue services and the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Setting: England and Wales.

"Dare to Share": Improving Information Sharing and Risk Assessment in Multiteam Systems Managing Offender Probation.

Managing offenders released from prison requires a multiteam system (MTS) approach, with teams from across police, probation, and other criminal justice agencies. However, public inquiries highlight current approaches are impaired by poor information sharing that compromises risk assessment and recall decisions, which can allow serious further offences to occur. Little research has focused on the causes of these information sharing difficulties.

Rapid Evidence Assessment of Mental Health Outcomes of Pandemics for Health Care Workers: Implications for the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Little is known about the long-term mental health (MH) impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on health care workers (HCWs). However, synthesizing knowledge from past pandemics can help to anticipate this, along with identifying interventions required, when, and target populations most in need. This paper provides a balanced evaluation of what is currently known about short- and long-term MH impacts of pandemics on HCWs and effect of methodological limitations on knowledge claims.

Facilitators and barriers to effective information sharing during international disaster response.

Effective information sharing is essential for the successful management of disasters. But as 30 years' worth of UK public inquiries repeatedly highlight, differences in terminology and goals across agencies can make this difficult to achieve. The growing scale and intensity of disasters raises additional challenges, with emergency responders being required to work across regions and even countries.

Information sharing in interteam responses to disaster.

Unlabelled: Research demonstrates that information sharing is facilitated by familiarity, and having a common understanding of problems, use of lexicon, and semantic meaning. These factors can be difficult to develop within extreme environments such as disasters as members of the multi-agency system that responds often have limited experience of working together. Public inquiries repeatedly highlight the impact of information sharing difficulties on public safety, but limited academic research has focused on identifying concrete behaviours that facilitate interteam information sharing within such environments.

A taxonomy of endogenous and exogenous uncertainty in high-risk, high-impact contexts.

By reference to a live hostage negotiation exercise, this study presents a taxonomy of uncertainty that can be usefully applied to assist in the categorization and application of findings from decision-making research conducted in naturalistic (specifically critical incident) settings. Uncertainty was measured via observational methods (during the exercise and by reference to video footage), decision logs, and postincident simulated recall interviews with trainee police officers. Transcripts were coded and analyzed thematically.

When do we believe experts? The power of the unorthodox view.

This paper examines the extent to which orthodoxy (degree of typicality) and congruence (degree of similarity with own opinion) mediate the influence of expert advice on decision makers' judgments. Overall, 227 members of the public and 60 police officers completed an online questionnaire involving an investigation into a child sex offence. Participants were asked to first (i) formulate their own "profile" of a likely offender then (ii) estimate the guilt of two presented suspect descriptions (orthodox vs.