No abstract

Research findings are consistent with the available evidence on healthcare workers' experience of patient safety incidents.

This study indicates that an implementation strategy based upon direct involvement of end users in the identification of possible barriers to change can be successful in promoting the use of practice guidelines.

Background Contact tracing (CT) represented one of the core activities for the prevention and control of COVID-19 in the early phase of the pandemic. Several guidance documents were developed by international public health agencies and national authorities on the organization of COVID-19 CT activities. While most research on CT focused on the use digital tools or relied on modelling techniques to estimate the efficacy of interventions, poor evidence is available on the real-world implementation of CT strategies and on the organizational models adopted during the initial phase of the emergency to set up CT activities. Objective We aimed to provide a comprehensive picture of the organizational aspects of CT activities during the first wave of the pandemic through the systematic identification and description of CT strategies used in different settings during the period from March to June 2020. Methods A systematic review of published studies describing organizational models of COVID-19 CT strategies developed in real-world settings was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement. PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched. Studies not providing a description of the organizational aspects of CT strategies and studies reporting or modelling theoretical strategies or focusing on the description of digital technologies’ properties were excluded. Quality of reporting was assessed by using the Template for Intervention Description and Replication Checklist for Population Health and Policy. We developed a narrative synthesis, using a conceptual framework to map the extracted studies broken down by target population. Results We retrieved a total of 1638 studies, of which 17 were included in the narrative synthesis; 7 studies targeted the general population and 10 studies described CT activities carried out in specific population subgroups. Our review identified some common elements across studies used to develop CT activities, including decentralization of CT activities, involvement of trained nonpublic health resources (eg, university students or civil servants), use of informatics tools for CT management, interagency collaboration, and community engagement. CT strategies implemented in the workplace envisaged a strong collaboration with occupational health services. Outreach activities were shown to increase CT efficiency in susceptible groups, such as people experiencing homelessness. Data on the effectiveness of CT strategies are scarce, with only few studies reporting on key performance indicators. Conclusions Despite the lack of systematically collected data on CT effectiveness, our findings can provide some indication for the future planning and development of CT strategies for infectious disease control, mainly in terms of coordination mechanisms and the use of human and technical resources needed for the rapid development of CT activities. Further research on the organizational models of CT strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic would be required to contribute to a more robust evidence-making process.

BACKGROUND Contact tracing (CT) represented one of the core activities for the prevention and control of COVID-19 in the early phase of the pandemic. Available evidence suggests marked differences in the organizational models of CT adopted in different settings. OBJECTIVE We aimed to provide a comprehensive picture of the organizational aspects of CT activities, through the systematic identification and description of CT strategies used in different settings. METHODS A systematic review of published studies describing organizational models of CT strategies for the surveillance and control of SARS-CoV-2 infection was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement. RESULTS We retrieved a total of 1,637 studies, 18 of which were included in the narrative synthesis. Seven studies target the general population, 11 studies described CT activities carried out in specific population subgroups. Our review identified some common elements across implemented CT strategies, which include the following: decentralization of CT activities, involvement of trained non-public health resources (e.g. University students, civil servants), use of digital tools for CT management, inter-agency collaboration, adoption of strategies to increase community engagement. CT strategies implemented in the workplace envisaged a strong collaboration with Occupational Health Services, both in the healthcare and in other work settings. Outreach activities showed to increase CT efficiency in vulnerable groups, such as ethnic minorities or people experiencing homelessness (PEH). Data on the effectiveness of CT strategies are scarce, with only few studies reporting on key performance indicators. CONCLUSIONS Despite the lack of data on effectiveness, our findings can provide some indication for future planning and development of CT strategies for infectious disease control, mainly in terms of coordination, use of human and technical resources. Further research on the organizational models of CT strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic would be needed to contribute to a more robust evidence-making process.