Workplace Aggression: Exploring Experiences of Occupational Therapy Practitioners in Healthcare Settings.

Workplace aggression (WPA) among healthcare workers is a pervasive and serious problem in the healthcare industry, yet there is a poor understanding of WPA in the profession of occupational therapy (OT). The authors employed a mixed method design using a Likert scale survey and focus groups from two different settings and locations to explore WPA experiences of OT practitioners working in healthcare settings. Participants for the focus groups totaled 14 and 109 surveys were returned. The findings revealed that 100% of the focus group participants and 67% of the survey respondents report exposure to specific types of WPA. Key underlying causes relate to the challenges occupational therapy practitioner's face in advocating their professional role and values in a predominant biomedical setting. These findings are important not only to increase awareness among practitioners, leaders, and educators but to further examine how occupational therapy's unique role in healthcare can be fully recognized.

Designing citizen science tools for learning: lessons learnt from the iterative development of nQuire.

This paper reports on a 4-year research and development case study about the design of citizen science tools for inquiry learning. It details the process of iterative pedagogy-led design and evaluation of the nQuire toolkit, a set of web-based and mobile tools scaffolding the creation of online citizen science investigations. The design involved an expert review of inquiry learning and citizen science, combined with user experience studies involving more than 200 users. These have informed a concept that we have termed 'citizen inquiry', which engages members of the public alongside scientists in setting up, running, managing or contributing to citizen science projects with a main aim of learning about the scientific method through doing science by interaction with others. A design-based research (DBR) methodology was adopted for the iterative design and evaluation of citizen science tools. DBR was focused on the refinement of a central concept, 'citizen inquiry', by exploring how it can be instantiated in educational technologies and interventions. The empirical evaluation and iteration of technologies involved three design experiments with end users, user interviews, and insights from pedagogy and user experience experts. Evidence from the iterative development of nQuire led to the production of a set of interaction design principles that aim to guide the development of online, learning-centred, citizen science projects. Eight design guidelines are proposed: users as producers of knowledge, topics before tools, mobile affordances, scaffolds to the process of scientific inquiry, learning by doing as key message, being part of a community as key message, every visit brings a reward, and value users and their time.

Factors associated with the ability and willingness of essential workers to report to duty during a pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: To determine essential workers' ability and willingness to report to duty during a serious pandemic outbreak and to identify modifiable risk factors. METHODS: Workers (N = 1103) from six essential workgroups completed an anonymous, cross-sectional survey. RESULTS: Although a substantial proportion of participants reported that they would be able (80%), fewer would be willing (65%) to report to duty. Only 49% of participants would be both able and willing. Factors significantly associated with ability/willingness included individual-level (eg, intentions to adhere to respiratory protection and pandemic vaccination recommendations) and organizational-level factors (eg, preparedness planning for respiratory protection and worker vaccination programs). CONCLUSIONS: During a serious pandemic event, non-illness-related shortfalls among essential workers could be substantial. Organizational preparedness efforts should focus on worker protection programs and the development of policies that would facilitate the attendance of healthy workers.

Utilization of an incident command system for a public health threat: West Nile virus in Nassau County, New York, 2008.

The summer of 2008 in Nassau County, New York, was marked by a historic season of human West Nile virus illness and West Nile virus activity in mosquitoes. The commissioner of Health of the State of New York declared a public health threat, and a decision was made to use adulticide for mosquito control. In contrast to prior years, the Nassau County Department of Health utilized the Incident Command System (ICS) to coordinate a multidisciplinary and multidepartment response to this public health threat. Implementing the ICS ensured coordination and communication between multiple county departments and organizations in the community. The effective response demonstrated that a local health department can mobilize to meet the needs of a public health threat through the use of the ICS. Nassau County Department of Health learned that the ICS is ideal for complex, multidisciplinary operations because of its clear chain of command, transparent organization structure, and flexibility.

A large-scale points-of-dispensing exercise for first responders and first receivers in Nassau County, New York.

Points of dispensing (PODs) are vital for responding to events that require mass chemoprophylaxis, such as bioterrorist attacks or pandemic influenza. This article evaluates the operational success of a large-scale dispensing drill for first responders and first receivers, focusing on differences in functioning of PODs by practice discipline and POD model. PODs were operated by either first responders (EMS, fire, or police) or first receivers (hospitals). Facilities could operate a centralized POD model, a decentralized POD model, or a combination, or "hybrid," model. Evaluation consisted of having evaluators at every POD, conducting a survey of POD individuals, and reviewing retrospectively the medications dispensed during the drill. Throughput counts, satisfaction with POD functioning, and errors in medication dispensing at each site are reported by practice discipline and facility model. During the drill, 23 PODs successfully processed more than 4,000 individuals. Centralized PODs and first responder facilities had faster throughput times than hybrid and hospital facilities, but hospital facilities had a lower incidence of medication error. Nominal differences in patient satisfaction were found. Assessing a combination of throughput, medical errors, and patient satisfaction with first responders and first receivers as points of dispensing can provide valuable insight into the feasibility of providing chemoprophylaxis to first responders and first receivers in advance of POD operations for the general public.