Search

OCCUPATIONAL APPLICATIONSDriving and survey data were collected from nurses following the night-shift and analyzed with logistic regression and frequency analysis. The analyses showed that prior near-crashes and drive length contributed significantly to near-crashes. The frequency analysis showed that most near-crashes occurred on major roadways, including principal arterials, major collectors, and interstates, within the first 15 minutes of the drive. These results highlight the urgent need for countermeasures to prevent drowsy driving incidents among night-shift nurses. Specifically, nurses and hospital systems should focus on countermeasures that encourage taking a break on the post work commute and those that can intervene during the drive. This may include the use of educational programs to teach nurses the importance of adequate rest or taking a break to sleep during their drive home, or technology that can recognize drowsiness and alert nurses of their drowsiness levels, prompting them to take a break.TECHNICAL ABSTRACTBackground Night-shift nurses are susceptible to drowsy driving crashes due to their long working hours, disrupted circadian rhythm, and reduced sleep hours. However, the extent to which work, sleep, and on-road factors impact the nurses’ commutes and the occurrence of near-crash events is not well documented.Purpose A longitudinal naturalistic driving study with night-shift nurses from a large hospital in the United States was conducted to measure these factors and analyze the occurrence and location of near-crashes during post-shift commutes.Methods An on-board data recorder was used to record acceleration, speed, and GPS coordinates continuously. Nurses also completed daily surveys on their sleep, work, and

Unnecessary readmissions have become a recurring problem in the Emergency Departments (ED) across the United States. While the current knowledge on the contributors to this problem is dominated by ...

In large-scale extreme events, multidisciplinary crisis management teams (CMTs) are required to function together cognitively. Despite theoretical maturity in team cognition and recurrent emphasis on cognition in the crisis management practices, no synthesis of theoretical and practical discourses is currently available, limiting empirical investigations of cognition in CMTs. To address this gap, this paper aims to review the definitions of cognition in CMTs, with a particular focus on examining if and to what extent they are diversified. Through a systematic process to search peer-reviewed journal articles published in English from 1990 to 2019, 59 articles were selected with 62 coded definitions of 11 different constructs. The similarities and variabilities of the definitions were examined in terms of their theoretical and practical emphases and then synthesised into an integrative definition expected to serve as a general guide of reference for future researchers seeking an operational definition of cognition in CMTs. Practitioner summary: Understanding of cognition in CMTs is grounded in various theories and models with varying assumptions. An integrative conceptualisation of such cognition as interaction within and across CMTs to perceive, diagnose, and adapt to the crisis may facilitate the accumulation of knowledge and future operationalisations. Abbreviations: CMT(s): crisis management team(s); SMM: shared mental model; TMM: team mental model; COP: common operating picture; SSA: shared situation awareness; TSA: team situation awareness; DC: distributed cognition; ITC: interactive team cognition; TMS: transitive memory system(s); DSA: distributed situation awareness.

Modern communities face escalating threats from natural disasters. Thus, the resilience of incident management teams (IMTs) during adverse events becomes crucial to protect lives and physical systems. However, prior studies have only partially highlighted factors related to IMT resilience. To provide a holistic understanding of the resilience of the IMTs, this study conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 experienced IMT personnel during Hurricane Harvey. Thematic analysis revealed six characteristics of resilient IMTs during a hurricane event: (i) establishing a common operating picture, (ii) adopting and adapting plans and protocols, (iii) proactive, re-prioritizing, and unconventional decision-making, (iv) enhancing resourcefulness and redundancy, (v) learning for improved anticipation and response readiness, and (vi) inter-organisational relationship to promote IMT functions. As an empirical investigation of the resilience of the IMTs, the findings inform future endeavours for developing incident information technologies and strategies to harmonise pre-established plans with adaptive actions in the field and fostering capabilities to learn from incidents.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a prevalent mental health condition among United States combat veterans, associated with high incidence of suicide and substance abuse. While PTSD t...

Interviews were conducted with offshore operators in the oil and gas industry in order to gain insight into their experiences of fatigue and associated mitigation strategies. These interviews indic...