scholarly journals Anaesthesia Department Preparedness and Response for the COVID-19 Outbreak in Portugal: A Perspective from CUF Porto Hospital

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Figueiredo ◽  
Ana Leão ◽  
Carlos Moreno ◽  
Marcelo Fernandes ◽  
Angel Hernandez ◽  
...  

A global health emergency has been declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak spread across the world. Patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 are at risk for developing respiratory failure and requiring admission to critical care units. While providing optimal treatment for these patients, careful execution of infection control measures is necessary to prevent nosocomial transmission to other patients and to health workers providing care.1 In the operating room, these preparations involve multiple stakeholders and can present a significant challenge. Here we described the measures for the outbreak adopted by the anesthesia department of a private tertiary care level hospital in Porto. These include engineering controls such as: identification and preparation of an isolation operating rooms, administrative measures such as: modification of workflow and processes, introduction of personal protective equipment, and formulation of clinical guidelines for anaesthetic management. We discuss how the hierarchy of controls should be a framework to plan, the necessary measures during each phase of a pandemic, and review the evidence of the procedures taken. [...]

2021 ◽  
pp. 69-71
Author(s):  
Ruby Naz ◽  
Akil Hussain ◽  
Sameena Khan

Hospital acquired infections (HAIs) are a major concern in the intensive care units (ICU)and postoperative wards. HAIs prolonged the stay of patient in hospital and increase the cost of treatment and morbidity. In ICU, stroke unit, neurosurgery ward burn unit patients are prone to have a variety of nosocomial infections. The World Health Organization (WHO) has described HAIs as one of the infectious diseases which have a huge economic impact on health industry. (1). many health workers like Staff Nurses, resident doctors and housekeeping are in direct or indirect contact with the Patients and surrounding in wards around the clock. These HCW play major role in preventing and controlling HAIs. In overpopulated country like India majority of public hospitals are overcrowded.


2020 ◽  
Vol 99 (5) ◽  
pp. 481-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Meng ◽  
F. Hua ◽  
Z. Bian

The epidemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), originating in Wuhan, China, has become a major public health challenge for not only China but also countries around the world. The World Health Organization announced that the outbreaks of the novel coronavirus have constituted a public health emergency of international concern. As of February 26, 2020, COVID-19 has been recognized in 34 countries, with a total of 80,239 laboratory-confirmed cases and 2,700 deaths. Infection control measures are necessary to prevent the virus from further spreading and to help control the epidemic situation. Due to the characteristics of dental settings, the risk of cross infection can be high between patients and dental practitioners. For dental practices and hospitals in areas that are (potentially) affected with COVID-19, strict and effective infection control protocols are urgently needed. This article, based on our experience and relevant guidelines and research, introduces essential knowledge about COVID-19 and nosocomial infection in dental settings and provides recommended management protocols for dental practitioners and students in (potentially) affected areas.


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 107327482110171
Author(s):  
Stephanie Carraway ◽  
Stacy Martin ◽  
John N. Greene

Background: On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) a pandemic. Hospitals around the world began to implement infection prevention and control (IPC) measures to stop further spread and prevent infections within their facilities. Healthcare organizations were challenged to develop response plans, procure personal protective equipment (PPE) that was in limited supply while continuing to provide quality, safe care. Methods: As a comprehensive cancer center with immunocompromised patients, our efforts began immediately. Preventative measures were established and, as of September 2020, over 14,000 patients have been tested within the facility. From March 2020 through September 2020, only one case of hospital acquired (HA) COVID-19 was identified among our patients. Two cases of suspected community acquired (SCA) cases were also identified. Following the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidance, IPC measures were implemented within the facility as information science about the virus developed. This article addresses the IPC measures taken, such as enhancing isolation precautions, implementing screening protocols, disinfecting and reusing N95 respirators, by the center throughout the pandemic as well as the challenges that arouse with a new and emerging infectious disease. Conclusions: The infection control measures implemented at our comprehensive cancer center during the COVID-19 pandemic allowed our center to continue to provide world class cancer care with minimal COVID-19 infection transmission among patients and team members.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukman Olagoke ◽  
Ahmet E. Topcu

BACKGROUND COVID-19 represents a serious threat to both national health and economic systems. To curb this pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a series of COVID-19 public safety guidelines. Different countries around the world initiated different measures in line with the WHO guidelines to mitigate and investigate the spread of COVID-19 in their territories. OBJECTIVE The aim of this paper is to quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of these control measures using a data-centric approach. METHODS We begin with a simple text analysis of coronavirus-related articles and show that reports on similar outbreaks in the past strongly proposed similar control measures. This reaffirms the fact that these control measures are in order. Subsequently, we propose a simple performance statistic that quantifies general performance and performance under the different measures that were initiated. A density based clustering of based on performance statistic was carried out to group countries based on performance. RESULTS The performance statistic helps evaluate quantitatively the impact of COVID-19 control measures. Countries tend show variability in performance under different control measures. The performance statistic has negative correlation with cases of death which is a useful characteristics for COVID-19 control measure performance analysis. A web-based time-line visualization that enables comparison of performances and cases across continents and subregions is presented. CONCLUSIONS The performance metric is relevant for the analysis of the impact of COVID-19 control measures. This can help caregivers and policymakers identify effective control measures and reduce cases of death due to COVID-19. The interactive web visualizer provides easily digested and quick feedback to augment decision-making processes in the COVID-19 response measures evaluation. CLINICALTRIAL Not Applicable


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-49
Author(s):  
Rochany Septiyaningsih ◽  
Dhiah Dwi Kusumawati ◽  
Frisca Dewi Yunadi ◽  
Septiana Indratmoko

The World Health Organization (WHO) states that maternal mortality worldwide due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth in 2017 is estimated at around 810 cases. Between 2000 and 2017 there was a decline in the ratio of MMR around the world by 38%. WHO also states that 94% of global maternal deaths occur in low and middle income countries. In Indonesia, maternal deaths due to complications from pregnancy or childbirth every year are estimated at 20,000 mothers died from five million births. Delivery assistance by trained health workers in health facilities can be an effort to reduce MMR and IMR. In addition, awareness of pregnant women is also important for the importance of having a pregnancy with a health worker. This community service aims to increase the knowledge of pregnant women about anemia and to detect early pregnancy complications by laboratory examinations. The target of this activity is 15 pregnant women. The dedication activity is conducting educational activities, laboratory examinations in Tambakreja Village, Cilacap Regency. Based on the results of this activity it was concluded that there was an increase in knowledge of pregnant women about anemia and found 2 pregnant women experiencing anemia from 15 pregnant women and urine examination found all negative pregnant women


Author(s):  
Shakir Khan

<p>The World Health Organization (WHO) reported the COVID-19 epidemic a global health emergency on January 30 and confirmed its transformation into a pandemic on March 11. China has been the hardest hit since the virus's outbreak, which may date back to late November. Saudi Arabia realized the danger of the Coronavirus in March 2020, took the initiative to take a set of pre-emptive decisions that preceded many countries of the world, and worked to harness all capabilities to confront the outbreak of the epidemic. Several researchers are currently using various mathematical and machine learning-based prediction models to estimate this pandemic's future trend. In this work, the SEIR model was applied to predict the epidemic situation in Saudi Arabia and evaluate the effectiveness of some epidemic control measures, and finally, providing some advice on preventive measures.</p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Lange ◽  
Anna M. Mandalakas ◽  
Barbara Kalsdorf ◽  
Claudia M. Denkinger ◽  
Martina Sester

Despite global efforts to control tuberculosis (TB) the estimated number of people who developed TB worldwide increased to an all-time record of more than 10 million in 2015. The goal of the World Health Organization (WHO) to reduce the global incidence of TB to less than 100 cases per million by 2035, cannot be reached unless TB prevention is markedly improved. There is a need for an improved vaccine that better protects individuals who are exposed to Mycobacterium tuberculosis from infection and active disease compared to the current M. bovis Bacille Calmette Guérin (BCG) vaccine. In the absence of such a vaccine, prevention relies on infection control measures and preventive chemotherapy for people with latent infection with M. tuberculosis (LTBI), who have the highest risk of progression to active TB. During the past decade, interferon-γ release assays (IGRAs) have increasingly replaced the tuberculin skin test as screening tools for the diagnosis of LTBI in countries with a low incidence of TB. Despite recent WHO guidelines on the management of LTBI, the definition of groups at risk for TB remains controversial, and the role of IGRAs for TB prevention in low-incidence countries remains uncertain. We reviewed the scientific literature and provide recommendations for the use of IGRAs for LTBI diagnosis in low-incidence countries. These recommendations are based on the number of patients needing treatment in order to prevent one case of TB. As the positive predictive value of IGRAs for the development of TB is sub-optimal, research must focus on the identification of alternative biomarkers that offer better predictive ability in order to substantially reduce the number needing treatment while improving the prevention of TB and improving the effectiveness of targeted preventive chemotherapy.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 495-500
Author(s):  
Ljiljana Simonovska ◽  
Iva Paneva ◽  
Gordana Panova

Tuberculosis (TB) is still a huge health problem in the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2015, 10.4 million new tuberculosis cases were registered. Most of the newly reported cases of TB are concentrated in 6 countries in the world: India, Indonesia, China, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa. In 2015, 1.8 million people died of TB. Among deaths 140,000 were children (1) By implementing the WHO strategy, known as Short Term Treatment Procedures under Direct Surveillance (DOT), almost all patients with tuberculosis can be treated. At the base of the DOT, the strategy is applied to short-term regimens under the direct control of health workers .Transmission of infection in tuberculosis is usually an aerobic pathway.Recent research in developing countries has shown that health care professionals (CARs) who take care of infectious TB patients have significantly higher isk of getting infected and getting sick from TB Therefore, WHO makes recommendations and guidelines to provide effective measures to prevent TB infection between the care professionals.These recommendations are based on a three-level control of the infection, consisting of administrative control, environmental control and personal protection of the respiratory organs. According to the basic healthcare activity provided by the Institute for Lung Disease and Tuberculosis (TB) in terms of diagnosing, treating and preventing tuberculosis, the working staff and / or patients coming to the Institute for various services are at risk of infection with tuberculosis bacteria. Therefore, consistent implementation of the measures recommended by the WHO and set out in the Control Program the infection of the nosocomial transmission of tuberculosis.The program for control of nosocomial infection with tuberculosis bacteria (MT) in the Institute should be realized with activities, hierarchically divided into three, оr four levels: managerial (organizational) activities at the level of a health institution, administrative measures, which reduce the risk of exposure to infection, environmental control measures, which prevents the risk of drooping way of spreading respiratory infections with MT and measures of personal protection against infection, which reduces the risk of inhalation of infectious particles.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-29
Author(s):  
Andy Emmanuel ◽  
Victoria Kain ◽  
Elizabeth Forster

Sub-Saharan Africa, has the highest child mortality rate in the world (World Health Organization [WHO], 2016). However, there is a paucity of current systematic reviews on the impact of essential newborn care interventions in Africa. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review was to summarize evidence about the impact of essential newborn care interventions in Africa. Numerous databases were searched to retrieve articles that reported interventions in newborn care in Africa. The search was limited to the English language and to articles published between 2007 and 2017. Nine articles were selected for inclusion in this systematic review. Overall, these papers demonstrated an increase in performance of health workers (between 8 and 400%) following a test of knowledge, while health workers practical performance increased by 34%. Moreover, neonatal mortality was reduced by 45%, while perinatal mortality was reduced by 30%. Training healthcare workers is one of the most effective ways of improving newborn care and neonatal survival in Africa. However, there is a need for additional evidence to support this, because none of the reviewed studies assessed the impact of training by examining variables such as trainees' satisfaction with training, the knowledge and skills developed, and the health outcomes achieved.


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