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Coronavirus Disease and Sustainability: Clinical Management, Work Organization and Public Health

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Health, Well-Being and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 12206

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Emanuele Cannizzaro

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Health Promotion Sciences Maternal and Infantile Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialities “Giuseppe D’Alessandro”, University of Palermo, via del Vespro 133, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Interests: occupational medicine; toxicology; work-related stress; swift work
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Luigi Cirrincione

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Health Promotion, Mother and Child Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties “Giuseppe D’Alessandro”, University of Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Interests: work-related stress; psychology; alcohol abuse and insomnia disorder
Dr. Fulvio Plescia

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Health Promotion Sciences Maternal and Infantile Care, Internal Medicine and Medical Specialities “Giuseppe D’Alessandro”, University of Palermo, via del Vespro 133, 90127 Palermo, Italy
Interests: pharmacology and toxicology; addiction; alcohol abuse; stress
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Venerando Rapisarda

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Occupational Medicine, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, 95124 Catania, Italy
Interests: mutagenic and carcinogenic effects of xenobiotics, asbestiform fibers and radiation; work organizations; ergonomics; psycho-physical wellbeing; health promotion in the workplace
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a sudden and dramatic shift in the way we work, significantly impacting local, national, and regional sustainability and stability. For many of us, the well-known pillars of work—the eight-hour workday, the office building, the morning commute, the salient boundaries between work and personal life, in-person conversations with colleagues, and sending children to school or daycare—have disappeared or drastically changed. Even worse, millions of workers have lost their jobs and their prospects for future employment are uncertain.

This Special Issue is interested in practical research findings and theoretical contributions that focus on how to turn the COVID-19 pandemic into an opportunity to accelerate development toward a more sustainable and regenerative society that focuses on innovation and the green transition.

Through different research approaches, we aim to bring new knowledge and better management and control of the pandemic to the workplace in light of the different consumption and production patterns associated with COVID 19. This Special Issue could incorporate original research contributions using different approaches, experimental, observational and intervention studies, literature reviews, protocol expert opinions, technical notes, and reviews from around the world. We seek submissions that propose a multidimensional approach to improving global climate change impact assessments and the sustainability of occupational management as they relate to COVID-19. Scientific contributions will span a variety of different areas, including: occupational medicine, ergonomics, architecture, design, engineering, virology, psychology, pharmacology, toxicology, and the prevention of new infections and their eventual management.

Dr. Emanuele Cannizzaro
Dr. Luigi Cirrincione
Dr. Fulvio Plescia
Prof. Dr. Venerando Rapisarda
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • sustainability
  • work
  • ergonomic
  • prevention
  • protection
  • job
  • occupational medicine

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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29 pages, 9927 KiB  
Article
RoboDoc: Smart Robot Design Dealing with Contagious Patients for Essential Vitals Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
by Hashim Raza Khan, Insia Haura and Riaz Uddin
Sustainability 2023, 15(2), 1647; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15021647 - 14 Jan 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3535
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic took valuable lives all around the world. The virus was so contagious and lethal that some of the doctors who worked with COVID-19 patients either were seriously infected or died, even after using personal protective equipment. Therefore, the challenge was [...] Read more.
The COVID-19 pandemic took valuable lives all around the world. The virus was so contagious and lethal that some of the doctors who worked with COVID-19 patients either were seriously infected or died, even after using personal protective equipment. Therefore, the challenge was not only to help communities recover from the pandemic, but also to protect the healthcare staff/professionals. In this regard, this paper presents a comprehensive design of a customized pseudo-humanoid robot to specifically deal with contagious patients by taking basic vitals through a healthcare staff member from a remote location amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed design consists of two portions: (1) a complete design of mechanical, electrical/electronic, mechatronic, control, and communication parts along with complete assembly to make a complete multitask-performing robot that interacts with patients to take vitals, termed as RoboDoc, and (2) the design of the healthcare staff side (master/operator side) control of a joystick mechanism with haptic feedback. The proposed RoboDoc design can be majorly divided into three parts: (1) the locomotion part is composed of two-wheeled DC motors on a rover base and two omni wheels to support the movements of the robot; (2) the interaction part consists of a single degree-of-freedom (s-DOF) neck to have communication with different heights of patients and (3) two anthropomorphic arms with three degrees-of-freedom (3-DOF). These parts help RoboDoc to reach to patient’s location and take all of the vitals using relevant devices such as an IR temperature thermometer, pulse oximeter, and electronic stethoscope for taking live auscultations from the lungs and heart of the patient. The mechanical design was created using solid works, and the electronic control design was made via proteus 8.9. For haptic teleoperation, an XBOX 360 controller based on wireless communication is used at the master/operator side. For the convenience of the healthcare staff (operator), an interactive desktop-based GUI was developed for live monitoring of all the vital signs of patients. For the remote conversation between the healthcare staff and the patient, a tablet is mounted (that also serves as the robot’s face), and that tablet is controlled via a mobile application. For visual aid, a DSLR camera is integrated and controlled remotely, which helps the doctor monitor the patient’s location as well as examine the patient’s throat. Finally, successful experimental results of basic vitals of the remote patient such as temperature sensing, pulse oximeter, and heart rate (using haptic feedback) were obtained to show the significance of the proposed cost-effective RoboDoc design. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Coronavirus Disease and Sustainability: Clinical Management, Work Organization and Public Health)
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16 pages, 350 KiB  
Article
Telework during COVID-19: Effects on the Work–Family Relationship and Well-Being in a Quasi-Field Experiment
by Maria José Chambel, Vânia Sofia Carvalho and Alda Santos
Sustainability 2022, 14(24), 16462; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142416462 - 8 Dec 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3087
Abstract
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations are forced to adopt teleworking. However, little is known about this work modality longitudinally. This study aims to clarify the impact of continuing to work on the organization’s premises and shifting to a telework situation on the [...] Read more.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations are forced to adopt teleworking. However, little is known about this work modality longitudinally. This study aims to clarify the impact of continuing to work on the organization’s premises and shifting to a telework situation on the work and family relationship and employees’ well-being. Using a sample of 435 bank employees with two waves, two groups were compared: (1) workers who continued to work on the organization’s premises (213), and (2) workers’ who had shifted to a telework situation (222). The first set of data were collected prior to the pandemic and the second approximately 10 months after its onset. The study found no statistically significant change to the work and family relationship (i.e., work–family conflict and work–family enrichment) as a result of a shift to telework. However, the shift to telework had a beneficial effect on work engagement, as opposed to remaining on the premises of the company. This study emphasizes the absence of effects on the work–family relationship resulting from the adoption of telework in response to COVID-19. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Coronavirus Disease and Sustainability: Clinical Management, Work Organization and Public Health)
16 pages, 1505 KiB  
Article
Long-Term COVID: Case Report and Methodological Proposals for Return to Work
by Ginevra Malta, Luigi Cirrincione, Fulvio Plescia, Marcello Campagna, Claudia Montagnini and Emanuele Cannizzaro
Sustainability 2022, 14(15), 9332; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14159332 - 29 Jul 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1629
Abstract
Almost two years after the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the knowledge of which in the infectious and therapeutic spheres is constantly evolving, attention paid to the medicolegal aspects linked to this emergency phenomenon has mainly focused on the liability implications falling on [...] Read more.
Almost two years after the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the knowledge of which in the infectious and therapeutic spheres is constantly evolving, attention paid to the medicolegal aspects linked to this emergency phenomenon has mainly focused on the liability implications falling on healthcare personnel. With regard to the medicolegal assessment of the outcomes of COVID-19 illness, although it is a procedure that is commonly used, and although references in the assessment tables in force have been adhered to, a specific assessment protocol has not been standardized that takes into account, from an objective point of view, the degree of severity of the long-term residual outcomes and their impact on the social and working lives of subjects. This shortcoming appears to be attributable to the immediate need to categorize the results of COVID-19, but, in our opinion, it deserves an in-depth study and protocols to enable evaluation committees to draw up an assessment as precisely as possible and that is free of gaps, which could be the subject of legal disputes. The aim of the present work, in light of a worldwide problem, is to arrive at specific and univocal evaluation criteria for COVID-19 disease outcomes, applicable in different operational contexts of reemployment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Coronavirus Disease and Sustainability: Clinical Management, Work Organization and Public Health)
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10 pages, 537 KiB  
Technical Note
COVID-19 Pandemic: New Prevention and Protection Measures
by Luigi Cirrincione, Fulvio Plescia, Caterina Ledda, Venerando Rapisarda, Daniela Martorana, Guido Lacca, Antonina Argo, Stefania Zerbo, Ermanno Vitale, Denis Vinnikov and Emanuele Cannizzaro
Sustainability 2022, 14(8), 4766; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14084766 - 15 Apr 2022
Cited by 28 | Viewed by 3185
Abstract
As of the end of February 2021, more than 420,000,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported worldwide, with 5,856,224 deaths. Transmission of the different genetically engineered variants of SARS-CoV-2, which have been isolated since the beginning of the pandemic, occurs from one [...] Read more.
As of the end of February 2021, more than 420,000,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported worldwide, with 5,856,224 deaths. Transmission of the different genetically engineered variants of SARS-CoV-2, which have been isolated since the beginning of the pandemic, occurs from one infected person to another by the same means: the airborne route, indirect contact, and occasionally the fecal–oral route. Infection is asymptomatic or may present with flulike symptoms such as fever, cough, and mild to moderate and severe respiratory distress, requiring hospitalization and assisted ventilation support. To control the spread of COVID-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have indicated that the appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE), as well as the adoption of effective hygiene systems, is one of the primary prevention measures for the entire population. Companies and institutions around the world are therefore trying to find the best ways to reorganize their operations, minimizing the risk of infection among their employees, in order to protect their health and prevent internal outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2, including through the development of new technologies that could also be an innovative and driving factor for the relaunch of companies in a more sustainable, ethically correct, and safe for the health of employees perspective. On the basis of the above premises, in view of the coexistence with SARS-CoV-2 that will most likely accompany us in the coming years, and in view of the vaccination campaign adopted worldwide, the purpose of our narrative review is to update the previous operational protocols with the latest scientific knowledge to be adopted in the workplace even when the emergency crisis is over. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Coronavirus Disease and Sustainability: Clinical Management, Work Organization and Public Health)
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