Strict Adherence to Anti-Epidemic Measures PreventsICU Staff from SARS-Cov2 Infection
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2021 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Biomedical and Pharmacology Journal |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | https://biomedpharmajournal.org/vol14no4/strict-adherence-to-anti-epidemic-measures-prevents-icu-staff-from-sars-cov2-infection/ |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/bpj/2286 |
| Keywords | Covid-19; Health Care Professionals; Infection Protection; ICU; SARS cov-2 |
| Description | In the Czech Republic, the impending pandemic started to be perceived as a real threat by the end of February 2020, when the Czech Ministry of Health established a special epidemiology committee. All direct flights from China were banned on Feb 9th, those from Italy and South Korea on Mar 5th. The first three patients positive for SARS-CoV-2 were diagnosed in the Czech Republic on 1st March 2020, which led to the activation of the National Security Board and subsequently to the issuance of a series of protective measures. Official rules for compulsory quarantine were issued (Mar 8th) and on Mar 12th, a state of emergency was declared with the closure of all borders, schools, services and stores (except for groceries). Wearing a face mask was declared obligatory. As a part of the actions taken, our hospital (Saint Anne’s University Hospital from Brno; FNUSA) was declared a “COVID-19 dedicated” hospital during the second week of March, which meant that all SARS-CoV-2 positive patients requiring mechanical ventilation would be admitted from the entire region of Moravia. The doctors in our Intensive Care Unit (ICU) started to work in three separate teams on March 17th and we admitted our first critically ill SARS-CoV-2 positive patient on March 18th. At the time of FNUSA’s designation, the ICU had no special experience in taking care of patients with highly contagious diseases – except for common nosocomial infection prevention. Experience gained from the current pandemic shows that the protection of healthcare professionals (HCP) against infection is one of the most important conditions for managing a pandemic 1,2. At the same time, we know that health care personnel are subject to a high risk of suffering from a severe course of Covid-19, probably because of their higher viral exposure 3. It is not just that HCPs may become ill and at that moment are unable to provide care, but also there is a serious risk that asymptomatic employees can pass the disease to susceptible patients. One aspect of protecting HCP is to set up effective anti-epidemic measures, including the consistent use of personal protective equipment (PPE). The second question is how and when to test HCP for the presence of the virus 4. Therefore, we conducted an internal flat testing among all HCPs to evaluate the effectiveness of the staff protection and surveillance strategy. This article summarizes the local experiences with established protective measures, possibilities of HCPs testing and evaluates its effectiveness during the 1st COVID-19 wave. |