Empirical evidence of transmission over a school-household network for SARS-CoV-2; exploration of transmission pairs stratified by primary and secondary school

BACKGROUND

Children play a key role in the transmission of many infectious diseases. They have many of their close social encounters at home or at school. We hypothesized that most of the transmission of respiratory infections among children occur in these two settings and that transmission patterns can be predicted by a bipartite network of schools and households.

AIM AND METHODS

To confirm transmission over a school-household network, SARS-CoV-2 transmission pairs in children aged 4-17 years were analyzed by study year and primary/secondary school. Cases with symptom onset between 1 March 2021 and 4 April 2021 identified by source and contact-tracing in the Netherlands were included. In this period, primary schools were open and secondary school students attended class at least once per week. Within pairs, spatial distance between the postcodes was calculated as the Euclidean distance.

RESULTS

A total of 4059 transmission pairs were identified; 51.9% between primary schoolers; 19.6% between primary and secondary schoolers; 28.5% between secondary schoolers. Most (68.5%) of the transmission for children in the same study year occurred at school. In contrast, most of the transmission of children from different study years (64.3%) and most primary-secondary transmission (81.7%) occurred at home. The average spatial distance between infections was 1.2 km (median 0.4) for primary school pairs, 1.6 km (median 0) for primary-secondary school pairs and 4.1 km (median 1.2) for secondary school pairs.

CONCLUSION

The results provide evidence of transmission on a bipartite school-household network. Schools play an important role in transmission within study years, and households play an important role in transmission between study years and between primary and secondary schools. Spatial distance between infections in a transmission pair reflects the smaller school catchment area of primary schools versus secondary schools. Many of these observed patterns likely hold for other respiratory pathogens.

Nurses' perceptions of their role with respect to promoting physical activity in adult patients: a systematic review

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To identify the nurses' perceptions of their role with respect to promoting physical activity in adult patients and factors related to this role perceptions.

BACKGROUND

Ageing and chronic diseases are often accompanied by a decrease in physical activity. Nurses are in an excellent position to promote physical activity, because of their close and frequent interactions with patients. However, they often fail to actively stimulate patients to physical activity due to a lack of time, competing priorities and their focus on acute problems. Unclear was how nurses view their professional role in the promotion of physical activity.

DESIGN

Systematic literature review.

METHODS

PubMed, COCHRANE and CINAHL EBSCO were searched for papers published from 2006 to September 2019. Two reviewers independently assessed the methodological quality, using MMAT criteria. Thematic synthesis was used to analyse the data. The PRISMA statement was followed for reporting.

RESULTS

Overall, 10 quantitative, eight qualitative and one mixed methods study were included in the review. Analyses of these studies resulted in six themes: (1) active and professional role; (2) the recognised importance; (3) fear of patient falling; (4) patient's present health and need; (5) interdisciplinary context and responsibility; and (6) nurses' knowledge.

CONCLUSIONS

Nurses perceive they have an active role in the promotion of physical activity and consider it as important and part of their professional role. Clear guidance increased education and stronger awareness of guidelines might enable nurses to translate their perceived role into daily practice. This will enhance professional fulfilment as well as patients' physical activity.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

The findings guide the development of interventions that aim to improve nursing care with respect to the promotion of physical activity and help managers and educators to provide appropriate resources and education.

Keep Moving Toward Recovery! Function-Focused Care in Hospitalized Stroke and Geriatric Patients

Many hospitalized patients experience decline in functional status. Function Focused Care (FFC) has demonstrated to improve patients’ functional status in long-term care. In a stepped wedge cluster trial in 893 hospitalized geriatric and stroke patients, we investigated the effectiveness of FFC compared to usual care (FFC: n=427, UC: n=466) on ADL and mobility. We measured the Barthel Index and the Elderly Mobility Scale, and analysed using a mixed-model multi-level method. At discharge, 3 month and 6 months, the mean difference (MD) was in favour of FFC, although at none of the time points the level of significance was reached: the MD for ADL was respectively: 0.79 (95%CI: -0.98-2.56), 0.43 (95%CI: 0.10-1.79), and 0.57 (95%CI: -1.34- 2.48). For mobility, the MD was respectively 0.89 (95%CI: -1.01-2.80), 0.78 (95%CI: -1.18; 2.75), and 1.09 (95%CI: -0.88-3.07). Although the results are inconclusive, FFC shows a tendency to improve ADL and mobility in hospitalized patients. Part of a symposium sponsored by Nursing Care of Older Adults Interest Group.