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Background:All over the world, migration is affecting millions of people who either choose or are forced to leave their countries of origin. Health is considered to be one of the important aspects of migration that is highly influenced by the circumstances created by mobility within or across countries. In the context of forced migration, it is well-established that refugees are susceptible to various diseases and other health conditions which might occur or deteriorate based on the health systems and health care provision in receiving countries. There is a considerable amount of research on the challenges encountered by refugees in receiving countries, in terms of health care systems and services. However, there seems to be little focus on the health care providers’ perspectives of the challenges in health care provision in refugee settings. This review aims to explore some of the articles discussing the challenging issues surrounding refugee health from a provider’s perspective.Methods:A systematic review was conducted through five main online databases: Medline (US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health; Bethesda, Maryland USA); Science Direct (Elsevier; Amsterdam, Netherlands); Scopus (Elsevier; Amsterdam, Netherlands); Sage (Sage Publications; Thousand Oaks, California USA); and Google Scholar (Google Inc.; Mountain View, California USA), including only the articles published in English. In addition, grey literature resources available online were used.Results:Forty-eight articles were included in this review, mainly based on the amount of emphasis they placed on providers’ viewpoints in refugee health settings. Most of the articles were retrieved based on their availability in the databases which Hacettepe University (Ankara, Turkey) is subscribed to. Almost all of the articles mentioned the challenges caused by linguistic and cultural barriers, and some focused on providers’ limited knowledge and skills, as well as inefficient health care systems. There was little emphasis on ethical discussions, and the physical and emotional impact of caring for refugees on health care professionals. In the few articles discussing ethical and personal dimensions, issues concerning stress, burnout, and safety risks were found to be the recurring themes.Conclusions:Evidence gathered suggests that the challenges faced by health care providers involve a variety of factors that are specific to health care settings involving refugees, such as linguistic and cultural barriers, and a lack of proper support and training. It seems that the challenges that health care providers face in refugee settings could be further investigated both from professional and personal aspects for a better understanding of refugee health care.Kavukcu N, Altıntaş KH. The challenges of the health care providers in refugee settings: a systematic review. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2019;34(2):188–196

The aim of this study was to determine various times related to the ambulance activities of Ankara Emergency Aid and Rescue Services (EARS) and if necessary contribute to the improvement of them. A descriptive study was planned to determine various times related to the ambulance activities of Ankara EARS. The data was collected by one of the researchers. The study was conducted between 1 October 1995 and 30 September 1996. The variables of the study were: delay time, response time, time at the scene (scene time), round trip time, transport time and total run time of Ankara EARS ambulance activities. Ankara EARS Emergency Call Registry Forms (5638 forms) were evaluated for the above stated variables. The computer program EPI-INFO 5.0 was used in the study. The median response time of Ankara EARS was found to be 9 minutes. In the research year, the median delay time was 2 minutes. Median arrival to patient contact time of Ankara EARS was 2 minutes. Median time at the scene was 7 minutes. Median round trip time of the system was 44 minutes. The median time to arrive at the scene from the ambulance station was 8 minutes. The median transport time was 10 minutes. The median total run time was 30 minutes. As the median response time was found to be 9 minutes it is concluded that there should be more ambulance vehicles to improve this time of Ankara EARS. Due to financial problems, times were recorded manually by the ambulance crew and dispatchers of Ankara EARS. If digital and electronic recording systems are used, these times might be more precise.

In Turkey, the first aiders are few in quantity and yet they are required in many settings, such as earthquakes. It was thought that training first year university students in first aid and basic life support (FA-BLS) techniques would serve to increase the number of first aiders. It was also thought that another problem, the lack of first aid trainers, might be addressed by training medical students to perform this function. A project aimed at training first year university students in FA-BLS was conducted at Hacettepe University. In the first phase, medical student first aid trainers (MeSFAT) were trained in FA-BLS training techniques by academic trainers and in the second phase, first year university students were trained in FA-BLS techniques by these peer trainers under the academic trainers' supervision. The purpose of this study was to assess the participants' evaluation of this project and to propose a new program to increase the number of first aiders in the country. In total, 31 medical students were certified as MeSFATs and 12 of these trained 40 first year university students in FA-BLS. Various questionnaires were applied to the participants to determine their evaluation of the training program. Most of the participants and the authors considered the program to be successful and effective. This method may be used to increase the number of first aid trainers and first aiders in the community. first aid; basic life support; training; student; peer

Background Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the severe acute new coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2. Devastating social, economic, and health service utilisation-related activities. Increased burden and lifestyle changes due to confinement. Objective This study aimed to investigate and determine the determinants of obesity during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic from 2019 to 2023. Methods Observational studies published between December 2019 and January 2023 were thoroughly searched using a PRISMA flow chart. PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, HINARI, Scopus, and Embase databases were used. Two reviewers independently identified and critically evaluated the relevant literature. Studies that reported weight gain or involved BMI measurements of 25 kg/m2 or BMI z-scores for children during the COVID-19 lockdown were selected for inclusion. The Newcastle–Ottawa Scale (NOS) was used as a quality assessment instrument in nonrandomised studies to evaluate study quality. All the contributing determinants of weight increase were identified, gathered, and synthesised. Results This systematic review identified 40 studies with a total population of 5,681,813 from 22 countries, of which 74.6% were male. The sample size from included articles ranged from 37 to 5,315,435. Of the 40 selected articles, 24 focused on adults, five on adolescents, three on children, and eight on children and adolescents. Physical inactivity, sedentary behaviour, bad eating habits, behavioural lifestyle, excessive stress, depression, anxiety, behavioural risk factors, sex, and ethnic minorities were associated with obesity during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Conclusion During the COVID-19 pandemic, physical inactivity, sedentary lifestyle, and poor eating patterns were the most common risk factors for obesity. Additionally, unhealthy eating habits, excessive behavioural stress, depression, anxiety, low mood, age, gender, and ethnic minorities have been identified as risk factors for obesity during the COVID-19 pandemic.