Vivek Arora1, Connie Evans1, Lorrie Langdale1, Alex Lee1. 1. is an Anesthesiologist and Surgical Intensivist, is an Operating Room Registered Nurse Educator, is a Surgical Intensivist and Chief of General Surgery, and is an Anesthesiologist and Surgical Intensivist, all at VA Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle, Washington. Vivek Arora and Alex Lee are affiliated with the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine and Lorrie Langdale is affiliated with the Department of Surgery, University of Washington in Seattle.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The worldwide spread of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the syndrome designated COVID-19, presents a challenge for emergency operative management. The transmission and virulence of this new pathogen has raised concern for how best to protect operating room staff while effectively providing care to the infected patient requiring urgent or emergent surgery. OBSERVATIONS: Establishment of a clear protocol that adheres to rigorous infection control measures while providing a safe system for interfacility transport and operative care is vital to a successful surgical pandemic response. While emergency protocols must be rapidly developed, they should be collaboratively improved and incorporate new knowledge as and when it becomes available. These measures combined with practice drills to keep operating room personnel ready and able should help construct processes that are useful, easy to follow, and tailored to the unique local environment of each health care setting. CONCLUSIONS: After the initial apprehensions and struggles during our confrontation with the COVID-19 crisis, it is our hope that the experience we share will be helpful to surgical staff at other institutions grappling with the challenges of operative care in the pandemic environment. While this protocol focuses on the current COVID-19 pandemic, these recommendations serve as a template for surgical preparedness that can be readily adapted to infectious disease crisis that unfortunately might emerge in the future.
BACKGROUND: The worldwide spread of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the syndrome designated COVID-19, presents a challenge for emergency operative management. The transmission and virulence of this new pathogen has raised concern for how best to protect operating room staff while effectively providing care to the infected patient requiring urgent or emergent surgery. OBSERVATIONS: Establishment of a clear protocol that adheres to rigorous infection control measures while providing a safe system for interfacility transport and operative care is vital to a successful surgical pandemic response. While emergency protocols must be rapidly developed, they should be collaboratively improved and incorporate new knowledge as and when it becomes available. These measures combined with practice drills to keep operating room personnel ready and able should help construct processes that are useful, easy to follow, and tailored to the unique local environment of each health care setting. CONCLUSIONS: After the initial apprehensions and struggles during our confrontation with the COVID-19 crisis, it is our hope that the experience we share will be helpful to surgical staff at other institutions grappling with the challenges of operative care in the pandemic environment. While this protocol focuses on the current COVID-19 pandemic, these recommendations serve as a template for surgical preparedness that can be readily adapted to infectious disease crisis that unfortunately might emerge in the future.
Authors: Priscilla Gomes da Silva; José Gonçalves; Ariana Isabel Brito Lopes; Nury Alves Esteves; Gustavo Emanuel Enes Bamba; Maria São José Nascimento; Pedro T B S Branco; Ruben R G Soares; Sofia I V Sousa; João R Mesquita Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2022-01-04 Impact factor: 3.390