A pandemic can increase the morbidity and mortality levels, and as a result cause social disruption and economic losses. E-Health, an application of information and communication technologies for health, may mitigate the impact of a pandemic by enhancing pandemic surveillance and control (e.g., rapid case reporting) and improving performance of medical practices (e.g., efficient documentation). The implementation of EHealth requires proper planning and management. E-Health readiness assessment represents an important step in change management, and including this step in the planning process increases the chances of E-Health implementation success. In this paper, we develop a framework of E-Health readiness assessment for a pandemic from healthcare organisational and providers' perspectives.

Australia and New Zealand have achieved excellent community control of COVID‐19 infection. In light of the imminent COVID‐19 vaccination roll out in both countries, representatives from the Haematology Society of Australia and New Zealand and infectious diseases specialists have collaborated on this consensus position statement regarding COVID‐19 vaccination in patients with haematological disorders. It is our recommendation that patients with haematological malignancies, and some benign haematological disorders, should have expedited access to high‐efficacy COVID‐19 vaccines, given that these patients are at high risk of morbidity and mortality from COVID‐19 infection. Vaccination should not replace other public health measures in these patients, given that the effectiveness of COVID‐19 vaccination, specifically in patients with haematological malignancies, is not known. Given the limited available data, prospective collection of safety and efficacy data of COVID‐19 vaccination in this patient group is a priority.

The aim of this study was to capture Australian frontline healthcare workers’ (HCWs) experiences with personal protective equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. This was a cross-sectional study using an online survey consisting of five domains: demographics; self-assessment of COVID risk; PPE access; PPE training and confidence; and anxiety. Participants were recruited from community and hospital healthcare settings in Australia, including doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, paramedics, and aged care and support staff. Data analysis was descriptive with free-text responses analysed using qualitative content analysis and multivariable analysis performed for predictors of confidence, bullying, staff furlough and anxiety. The 2258 respondents, comprised 80% women, 49% doctors and 40% nurses, based in hospital (39%) or community (57%) settings. Key findings indicated a lack of PPE training (20%), calls for fit testing, insufficient PPE (25%), reuse or extended use of PPE (47%); confusion about changing guidelines (48%) and workplace bullying over PPE (77%). An absence of in-person workplace PPE training was associated with lower confidence in using PPE (OR 0.21, 95%CI 0.12, 0.37) and a higher likelihood of workplace bullying (OR 1.43; 95% CI 1.00, 2.03) perhaps reflecting deficiencies in workplace culture. Deficiencies in PPE availability, access and training linking to workplace bullying, can have negative physical and psychological impacts on a female dominant workforce critical to business as usual operations and pandemic response.

lase negative staphylococci). Healthcare-associated urinary tract infection (HA-UTI) was defined as a positive urine culture with a concentration of at least 105microorganisms per cm3 taken at least 48 hours after admission. Multistate modelling was employed to estimate the excess LOS due to BSI and UTI.Results: There were 544,599 adult and 91,686 paediatric and neonatal admissions, and 1,102 HA-BSIs in adults and 475 in paediatric and neonatal patients. There were 2,883 HA-UTIs in adults and 489 in paediatric and neonatal patients. 33.0% and 15.4% of patients with HA-BSI and HA-UTI respectively died before hospital discharge. Estimated excess LOS due to HA-BSI was 1.98 days in adults and 4.44 in children. Corresponding numbers for HA-UTI were 1.77 days in adults and 1.26 in children.Conclusion: Excess LOS due to HAI was estimated to be about 2-5 days for HA-BSI and 1-2 days for HA-UTI. Excess stay attributable to HA-BSI would be expected to be longer than that due to HA-UTI because of the greater severity of infection. The small attributable excess length of stay in adult BSI patients may reflect high attributable mortality in this group.

How to cite this article: MacIntyre CR. The risk of selective investment in downstream pandemic planning. Global Biosecurity, 2019; 1(2).