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Presentation

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Publication Date

11-13-2020

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Presentation: 5:53

Poster attached as supplemental file below

Abstract

In December of 2019, the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first reported in Wuhan, China and has since spread worldwide (Kowalski, 2020). It is caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and it is a highly contagious virus that is transmitted mainly through respiratory droplets. The disease severity can vary from asymptomatic to critically ill and the most common symptoms include fever, cough, and fatigue (Kowalski, 2020). Among health care workers, Anesthesiologists and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) physicians have an increased risk of infection as they perform intubations and other procedures that puts them into direct contact with patients’ airway and exposes them to respiratory droplets (Ashokka, 2020). The purpose of this rapid review is to outline the current guidelines and management strategies for Anesthesiologists and ICU providers taking care of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to protect patients, medical professionals, and limit the spread of the virus. PubMed was searched for relevant literature and studies were included if they met the following criteria: articles specifically discussing airway management healthcare workers; English Language, were not review articles, in reference to practices in the United States of America, in the setting of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, in the past year (2019-2020). Of all the articles screened 9 articles were included in the final analysis. Results from this rapid review show that the most frequently mentioned guidelines included proper donning and doffing of PPE, smaller airway teams to minimize exposure, negative pressure ORs, and flowing hospital protocol for decontamination. Looking forward it is vital to continue updating and developing guidelines & recommendations for the management of COVID-19 positive patients to ensure the safety and health of everyone involved.

Language

English

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