This study interprets data from NG situation reports (SITREPS) given to the National Guard Bureau (NGB) by each state national guard headquarters regarding their COVID-19 relief efforts from April to June 2020. This is the first published study about NG disaster relief utilizing quantitative data provided by the United States (US) military.

The SITREPS of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands for the dates of April 10, May 6, May 16, and June 3, 2020 were examined by two authors, to analyze the state NG activities.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the NG primarily provided security, performed COVID-19 testing, ran COVID-19 shelters, provided food assistance, transported supplies, aided mortuaries, supported warehouses, and deployed medical personnel to hospitals. Numerical data about the services provided, such as quantity, was rare, but is included as available.

The United States National Guard provided assistance to their local citizens in multiple essential areas. This elucidation of the uses of the National Guard should be considered during future governmental disaster preparedness planning efforts and can be extrapolated to international military disaster relief.

As coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spread, efforts were made to preserve resources for the anticipated surge of COVID-19 patients in British Columbia, Canada. However, the relationship between COVID-19 hospitalizations and access to cancer surgery is unclear. In this project, we analyze the impact of COVID-19 patient volumes on wait time for cancer surgery.

We conducted a retrospective study using population-based datasets of regional surgical wait times and COVID-19 patient volumes. Weekly median wait times for urgent, nonurgent, cancer, and noncancer surgeries, and maximum volumes of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 were studied. The results were qualitatively analyzed.

A sustained association between weekly median wait time for priority and other cancer surgeries and increase hospital COVID-19 patient volumes was not qualitatively discernable. In response to the first phase of COVID-19 patient volumes, relative to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, wait time were shortened for urgent cancer surgery but increased for nonurgent surgeries. During the second phase, for all diagnostic groups, wait times returned to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. During the third phase, wait times for all surgeries increased.

Cancer surgery access may have been influenced by other factors, such as policy directives and local resource issues, independent of hospitalized COVID-19 patient volumes. The initial access limitations gradually improved with provincial and institutional resilience, and vaccine rollout.

In the aftermath of earthquakes, the availability of emergency units and operating rooms (OR) in hospitals can make a difference in the survival of those injured. OR professionals’ experience during earthquakes is vital for ensuring safe and effective surgical procedures. This study was conducted to explore perceptions and describe the experiences of OR professionals, aiming to improve OR processes during and after earthquakes.

This phenomenological study employed semi-structured interviews to collect qualitative data from 16 OR professionals who experienced the earthquake. Purposeful sampling was utilized for face-to-face interviews, and MAXQDA20 was used for content analysis.

The primary themes included workplace perspectives, during-earthquake experiences, ethical considerations, and post-earthquake experiences. The workplace was described as unique, dynamic, stressful, and disciplined. Participants experienced fear and panic during the earthquake. Abandoning patients was deemed unethical, resulting in ethical quandaries for professionals when their safety was at risk.

Participants displayed responsibility and ethical conduct while remaining with the patients during the tremor. Implementing practices is crucial in mitigating fear and chaos and improving information management. As such, it is highly recommended that hospital disaster plans incorporate the active participation of OR professionals.

In 2022, Pakistan witnessed unprecedented flooding, submerging one-third of the country under-water, ruining millions of houses, taking lives, afflicted injuries, and displacing scores of people. Our study documents not only the public health problems that have arisen due to this natural calamity but also the state of health systems’ response.

We conducted a qualitative study asking key questions around prevalent health problems, health-care seeking, government’s response, resource mobilization, and roadmap for the future. We purposively selected 16 key frontline health workers for in-depth interviews.

Waterborne and infectious diseases were rampant posing huge public health challenges. Disaster mitigation efforts and relief operations were delayed and not at scale to cover the entire affected population. Moreover, a weak economy, poverty, and insufficient livelihoods compounded the tribulations of floods. Issues of leadership and governance at state level resulted in disorganized efforts and response.

Pakistan is famous for its philanthropy; however, lack of transparency and accountability, the actual benefits seldom reach the beneficiaries. Such climatic disasters necessitate a more holistic approach and a greater responsiveness of the health system. In addition to health services, the state must respond to financial, social, and infrastructural needs of the people suffering from the calamity.

This study aimed to identify the roles of community pharmacists (CPs) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the differences in their role performance compared with their perceived importance, and limiting factors.

A cross-sectional online survey of CPs was conducted. The CPs self-measured the importance and performance of each role during the pandemic using a 5-point Likert scale. A paired t-test was used to compare each role’s importance and performance scores. A logistic regression analysis of the roles with low performance scores, despite their level of importance, was conducted to determine the factors affecting performance. The limiting factors were also surveyed.

The 436 responses to the questionnaire were analyzed. The performance scores were significantly lower than the perceived importance scores for 15 of the 17 roles. The source and update frequency of COVID-19 information and participation in outreach pharmaceutical services were associated with low performance scores. Insufficient economic compensation, the lack of communication channels, and legal limitations were the limiting factors in performing the CPs’ roles.

The participation in outreach pharmaceutical services, economic compensation, and communication channel should be improved to motivate the CPs in performing their roles.

Around the world, pandemics have been considered among the main hazards in the last 2 decades. Hospitals are 1 of the most important organizations responding to pandemics. The aim of this study was to design and develop a valid checklist for evaluating the hospitals’ performance in response to COVID-19 pandemic, for the first time.

This study is a mixed method research design that began in February, 2020 and was conducted in 3 phases: Designing a conceptual model, designing a primary checklist structure, and checklist psychometric evaluation. Known-groups method has been used to evaluate construct validity. Two groups of hospitals were compared: group A (COVID-19 Hospitals) and group B (the other hospitals).

The checklist’s main structure was designed with 6 main domains, 23 sub-domains, and 152 items. The content validity ratio and index were 0.94 and 0.79 respectively. Eleven items were added, 106 items were removed, and 40 items were edited. Independent t-test showed a significant difference between the scores of the 2 groups of hospitals (P < 0.0001). Pearson correlation coefficient test also showed a high correlation between our checklist and the other. The internal consistency of the checklist was 0.98 according to Cronbach’s alpha test.

Evaluating the hospitals’ performance and identifying their strengths and weaknesses, can help health system policymakers and hospital managers, and leads to improved performance in response to COVID-19.