Topic: Life of Immigrants and Refugees and How can we make their lives better for them. Literature Review- 7 pages plus a work cited page. Title page is not needed. Double Spaced I have provided 5 so
1 The Impact of COVID-19 on Workplace Readiness: Gaps in Emergency & Disaster Management Training Grace Jef fries ENGH 302-M03 Professor King Geor ge Mason University April 22, 2022 2 In the past two years life as we know it has changed drastically especially in regards to the healthcare system. Since the start of COVID-19 health care of ficials have become overworked and burnt out while trying figuring out how to combat this pandemic that seems to be never ending. Although previous research has shown that there has been a lack of emer gency training being integrated into the curriculum for those that work directly in this field, there has been minimal research expressing the need of EDM (emer gency and disaster management) training in course curriculums. This literature review will expand on the discussion of emer gency preparedness in the healthcare field from the perspective of the students, employees, and employers directly impacted. We will be analyzing how preparedness for the workforce has changed since the start of the pandemic and how college curricula have adapted in order to better assist their students for the workforce in regards to preparing to handle emer gency situations. The Student Perspective College students have been hit hard by the pandemic. Many colleges transitioned from in person learning to online learning in April of 2020 which left many college students as well as professors struggling to figure out how to continue with courses, leaving a sense of uncertainty as to when it would end. With that being said, how do students feel about the education that they are receiving and how it is going to impact their ability to enter the workforce after a pandemic that has changed so many aspects of their learning? First and foremost, students have felt overwhelmed as traditional educational methods have transitioned to what is experienced now , which is accelerated and virtual methods of teaching. Due to the pandemic, there has been a higher need for health care professionals as 3 more and more people have gone to seek care causing the ratio of professionals to patients to increase drastically . Because of the higher need of professionals, curriculums have become accelerated inducing a great amount of stress for students. According to Divyansh Sharma who is a fourth year medical student at the University of New South Wales and Dr . Sonu Bhaskar who is a clinical-scientist, COVID-19 has greatly impacted the ability of medical students to learn ef fectively . Sharma and Bhaskar (2020) state “Disruptions in traditional medical education and training due to COVID-19 have increased risk of poor mental health among medical students worldwide”. This statement is especially true in groups that may be considered vulnerable. As colleges transitioned to online learning, it left those students who may live in poverty and not have reliable access to technology in the dark. According to Sharma and Bhaskar: T elecommunications technology has provided an ef fective way to address gaps in learning caused by the pandemic. However , for those engaging in online learning, there may be inequities, and subsequent frustration and stress, as even in developed countries, not all students have access to the digital devices or infrastructure required to ef fectively partake in online learning. Moreover , those in remote and rural areas often have poor internet connections(Sharma & Bhaskar , 2020). W ithout Access to reliable technology , it causes students to have to take courses over a longer period of time which would also increase the cost of their education further inducing stress. A 2020 study performed at Arizona State University further supports the claim that students have felt negatively impacted by the pandemic. According to Aucejo et al. (2020), “Due to COVID-19: 13% of students have delayed graduation, 40% have lost a job, internship, 4 or job of fer, and 29% expect to earn less at age 35”. All of these aspects are likely to increase stress levels even more. While college students have experienced a lar ger amount of stress as they have had to transition to online learning, there has also been studies done that support the transition to online technology-based training in order to allow college students to be more focused, as well as prepared to enter the workforce. Although Sharma and Bhaskar (2020) explain that virtual learning has caused distress in students, they also provide alternatives to solely doing virtual lectures, suggesting a more interactive online approach of learning for students. They state that a hybrid model of teaching would be a good way to approach and correct the stress that college students feel, mentioning “online teaching can be made more engaging and ef fective for students through interactive tools such as voting polls, chat functions and videos” (Sharma & Bhaskar , 2020). This approach would be beneficial to reducing the stress that students feel because it would be a more enjoyable activity , rather than sitting and listening to a two hour lecture. Once students perform these activities on their own, their classes are able to regroup and discuss what they learned. When it comes to training for emer gency scenarios like a pandemic, there isn’ t a substantial amount of fered to students. However , since the start of COVID-19 some light has started to be shed on that issue. In February of 2020 just before the start of the pandemic, a discussion was performed where Attila Hertelendy et al. (2021) where they asked over forty health administration graduate students their opinions on how they felt about being prepared for emer gency and disaster management (EDM for short) training. Hertelendy et al . stated “Less than half (38.9%) reported that they had some workplace provided training related to emer gency preparedness. Nearly all (96.3%) believed they should receive education and training related to 5 emer gency and disaster management (EDM) as part of their healthcare administration degree program” (Hertelendy et al., 2021). This acted as a catalyst for a more in depth study as to why students may feel that way . The findings were shocking. Hertelendy et al. (2021) continued their research by looking at the curriculums of 105 healthcare administration graduate programs, 75 of which are accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME). According to Hertelendy et al.(2021), in total, less than 1% of programs examined required their students to take a dedicated course on EDM training. Specifically , Seton Hall University was the only university that required their students to take a dedicated course on EDM training. Only 10% of the programs examined allowed students to take a course on EDM training as an elective (Hertelendy et al., 2021). Another important thing to note that was discussed by Hertelendy et al. (2021) is “Charney et al. (2019) surveyed nurse practitioners, master of public health students, medical/osteopathic students, and program administrators to assess curriculum coverage of 15 disaster management competencies. The students reported inadequate coverage of disaster management topics in their schools. Program administrators perceived a higher outcome than students, perhaps causing a false assurance of curriculum adequacy”. So while students feel that there is not enough training on EDM, administrators who are monitoring the success of the curriculum believe dif ferently. This leads to the question of whether that will af fect how colleges respond to the pandemic and if they will implement more training in the curriculum. If like Hertelendy et al.
(2021) said, program administrators view their curriculums as satisfactory they may not feel the need to incorporate more training. There is currently minimal research that has been done to determine whether curriculums have added additional training for students in regards to EDM 6 preparedness. However , if administrators do decide to implement more training focused courses, Sharma and Bhaskar have mentioned plausible methods of training for students. One method proposed by Sharma & Bhaskar (2020) is allowing students to volunteer/ intern/ shadow doctors or other healthcare workers in the midst of the pandemic to gain hands-on experience. This would not only be beneficial to the students, but the workers as well. Sharma & Bhaskar (2020) state “T raining or volunteering opportunities to work in infectious disease outbreak settings, particularly via teaching around ef fective telemedicine consultations, could be embedded into medical school curricula to develop student confidence and resilience should an epidemic occur in future”. Like Sharma & Bhaskar , T revino-Reyna et al. (2021) also provides suggestions to help further prepare students to combat future emer gencies like a pandemic stating “Academic programmes such as Europubhealth can prepare PHPs with competencies that assist and prepare PHPs for public health challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Such programmes should combine scientific evidence based public health knowledge and interpersonal competencies, including communication, response, and preparedness”. The Employee Perspective While there is a consensus that students predominantly have been negatively impacted by the pandemic both mentality and technically , how are the employees that are already in the healthcare field af fected by the pandemic? Some feel as if they were equipped to handle the pandemic. Goel Trevino-Reyna et al. (2021) created a questionnaire in which they asked Public Health Professionals in the Netherlands 35 questions in regards to working during the pandemic. In total they surveyed approximately 190 public health professionals. Out of those 190 people “70% percent of PHPs 7 considered having adequate training to participate in the COVID-19 pandemic response” (T revino-Reyna et al., 2021). This equates to roughly 135 participants feeling as if they were prepared to handle the pandemic. Contrary to the research done by Trevino-Reyna et al., research performed by Hertelendy et al. (2021) states that employees have felt under -prepared to combat the pandemic. As previously stated, Hertelendy et al. (2021) interviewed 43 healthcare administration graduate students who are also employed by various hospitals about their attitudes towards being prepared for the pandemic. Out of the employees interviewed, less than half said they received training by their place of work. This is surprising because depending on the position that a healthcare administration is in, one of their responsibilities include management during a time of crisis or emer gency . W ithout proper training provided, how are these workers supposed to provide ef ficient and ef fective management? As Hertelendy et al. (2021) explained, there is clear evidence of minimal training provided to the health administration employees, Mhiedly et al. (2020) also explains how the pandemic has negatively impacted employees. Since the start of COVID-19, modes of communication have been predominantly remote. As stated by Mhiedly et al. (2020) “strain resulting from telecommunication can accumulate with other stressors to lead to exhaustion, anxiety , and burnout”. It can be concluded that the lack of training described by Hertelendy et al.
(2021) combined with the shift to telecommunication as described by Mhiedly (2020) has resulted in employees being unprepared and burnt out since the start of the pandemic. The Employer Perspective 8 As previously stated, there is evidence showing that employees have been underprepared and that lack of training is evident in the curriculums of fered to students during their academic programs. This leads to the question as to what employers look for when hiring a new graduate and how dif ferent modes of teaching during an academic program af fect the students ability to earn a job post graduation. Matthew Anderson et al. (2021) analyzed a study that was done to determine what qualities of a program prospective employers look for when hiring new graduates. The study was done in the format of a survey and they asked 43 employers from various types of healthcare or ganizations. According to Anderson et al. (2021), “The attribute that contributed the highest level of importance within the multinomial logit model was the structure of the work experience during the academic program (39%). The most preferred experiential learning structure from the perspective of employers was the most extensive option: a structured summer internship in addition to a part-time internship throughout the academic program. A summer internship was the second-most preferred attribute level, followed by fieldwork only”. While this study doesn’ t specifically mention the pandemic, it can be concluded that since employers are looking for hands on experience from their new graduate hires, it can be implied that the hands on experience that they are looking for also means experience in stressful and emer gency situations like a pandemic. This in turn means that academic programs should recognize what employers are looking for and attempt to provide their students with those attributes. Sharma & Bhaskar (2020) support this ar gument that colleges should provide students with hands on experience in the field, which would in turn make them more appealing to employers.
9 Conclusion In conclusion, there seems to be mixed opinions as to whether or not students and professionals have received the proper training for the workforce in the face of the pandemic.
One thing that is clear though is that there aren't many training opportunities for students during their college career as expressed by Hertelendy et al. (2021). There are evident gaps in what health administration programs deem adequate and what employers are looking for from a qualifying graduate. There has been minimal research done to see if and how academic programs have adjusted their curriculum to include EDM training in response to the pandemic which has caused much distress and burnout upon not only employees but also students. If programs do decide to begin implementing EDM training there are a multitude of methods they could use to do so. Hertelendy et al. (2021) suggests competency based courses, which would teach students about various aspects involved in EDM. Some of the suggested categories include “personal safety , legal practices, clinical management, situational awareness, etc.” (Hertelendy et al., 2021). Another method that should be taken into consideration is one that was suggested by Sharma & Bhaskar (2020), in which they allow students to intern or volunteer at a hospital involving infectious diseases or during an emer gency/disaster in order to give them hands on experience. Which, according to Anderson et al. (2021) would make new graduates more appealing to potential employers. Further research needs to be done on the need for EDM training to be implemented into college courses as well as the comparison between the preparedness of college students entering the workforce who were a part of a program that did include dedicated EDM training versus those that were a part of a program that did not include training and how that has af fected their preparedness.
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