Practical strategies to reduce nosocomial transmission to healthcare professionals providing respiratory care to patients with COVID-19

• Published in: Critical care (London, England) Vol. 24; no. 1; pp. 571 - 13
• Main Authors: Kaur, Ramandeep, Weiss, Tyler T, Perez, Andrew, Fink, James B, Chen, Rongchang, Luo, Fengming, Liang, Zongan, Mirza, Sara, Li, Jie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central 23.09.2020; BMC
• Subjects: Aerosol-generating procedures; Aerosols; Aerosols - adverse effects; Bronchoscopy; Coronavirus Infections - prevention & control; Coronavirus Infections - transmission; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Critical care; Cross Infection - prevention & control; Disease control; Disease transmission; Epidemics; Humans; Infection Control - methods; Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional - prevention & control; Influenza; Intubation; Masks; Medical supplies; Meta-Analysis as Topic; Nosocomial infection; Nosocomial infections; Observational Studies as Topic; Oxygen therapy; Pandemics - prevention & control; Patients; Pneumonia, Viral - prevention & control; Pneumonia, Viral - transmission; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Respiratory care; Respiratory diseases; Respiratory Distress Syndrome - therapy; Respiratory Distress Syndrome - virology; Review; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Systematic Reviews as Topic; Ventilators; Viruses; Nosocomial infection; Respiratory care; Aerosol-generating procedures
• ISSN: 1364-8535; 1466-609X; 1364-8535; 1366-609X
• DOI: 10.1186/s13054-020-03231-8

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an emerging viral infection that is rapidly spreading across the globe. SARS-CoV-2 belongs to the same coronavirus class that caused respiratory illnesses such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). During the SARS and MERS outbreaks, many frontline healthcare workers were infected when performing high-risk aerosol-generating medical procedures as well as when providing basic patient care. Similarly, COVID-19 disease has been reported to infect healthcare workers at a rate of ~ 3% of cases treated in the USA. In this review, we conducted an extensive literature search to develop practical strategies that can be implemented when providing respiratory treatments to COVID-19 patients, with the aim to help prevent nosocomial transmission to the frontline workers.