Support for bigger government: The principle-implementation gap and COVID-19.

We study the COVID-19 pandemic's effect on government and market attitudes using within-subject comparisons of survey responses elicited before and after the onset of the pandemic. We find that participants develop significantly less favorable opinions toward government and markets; and that participants increase support for bigger government significantly and for redistribution, in general, marginally significantly. There is no evidence this leads to an increase in support for specific redistributive policies, nor for government to play a larger role in specific functions. Our results echo the stubbornness of American preferences for redistribution and suggest the presence of a principle-implementation gap.

Managing the exercise process for success.

In conducting an exercise to meet Joint Commission standards, the authors maintain that detailed planning and realistic goals are the keys to success. A well-organized exercise that reveals there is much to be done is more preferable than the exercise organized in haste that determines there is nothing that needs improvement. In this article they focus on the details involved in organizing, planning, and critiquing a successful exercise.

HEICS to HICS, some observations and experiences.

There has been a marked improvement in the capability of hospitals to respond to emergency situations with the introduction of HICS in 2005, the author says, citing a wealth of available materials for developing a robust response plan. He warns security directors, however, about current practices which may be keeping them out of the emergency management loop.

The challenge of changing roles and improving surgical care now: Crew Resource Management approach.

Many surgeons are also pilots; the two activities demand similar skill sets. Surgeons have developed an interest in aviation models for managing risk and reducing adverse events, such as Crew Resource Management training. This article provides seven suggestions from aviators that might be adopted by surgeons in an effort to improve surgical care and mitigate patient harm. Each suggestion is offered based on the value added to aviation, with an acknowledgment that the suggestion may be more or less applicable in surgery. The suggestions for dealing with the changing roles for surgeons are: Crew Resource Management-type training to improve teamwork should be required for hospital credentialing, surgeons should brief the operating room team before an operation, surgeons should write standards specific to their organization, surgeons should recognize fatigue and age as factors in performance, surgeons should have "check-rides" as a part of the credentialing process, surgeons should abandon the mortality and morbidity conference in favor of a data collection system that effectively examines adverse events for root causes of error, and all members of the surgical team should be subject to mandatory, random drug testing.