The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospital biosafety practices/O impacto da pandemia da COVID-19 nas praticas de biosseguranca hospitalar

• Published in: Revista de medicina (São Paulo, Brazil) Vol. 102; no. 3
• Main Authors: Almeida, Lavinia Lages, Mendonca, Vinicius Rodrigues, Percu, Breno Silva, Paiva, Miriana Figueiredo Pereira, Martins, Murillo Jose Silva, Reis, Larissa Castro dos, Resgala, Ludmilla Carvalho Rangel, Pacheco, Renato Bittencourt, Moreira, Rafaela Sechim, Guerrero, Lorenzo, Nogueira, Rayssa Almeida
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade de Sao Paulo. Departamento Cientifico da Faculdade de Medicina 01.05.2023
• Subjects: Canadá
• ISSN: 0034-8554
• DOI: 10.11606/issn.1679-9836.v102i3e-206934

The pandemic of COVID-19 has changed life globally. Economic, cultural, and social damages were noticed on a large scale, along with countless deaths. Therefore, changes in hospital practices have become necessary to prevent the spread of the virus among hospital staff and patients. In this context, the study aimed to discuss the impacts brought by the pandemic of COVID-19 to the hospital environment, including the main changes in order to avoid the spread of the virus. For the research, original articles published in bibliographic reference platforms, such as SciELO and PubMed, in Portuguese language, in the last 20 years were used. Thus, we observed impacts on the hospital environment, especially in relation to the increased use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and Collective Protective Equipment (CPEs). Moreover, the use of 70% alcohol has proved to be of great value as an antiseptic agent, minimizing the risk of contamination. Therefore, it is possible to infer that although hospital practices before the pandemic were very relevant, the high transmissibility of the SARS-CoV 2 virus forced new measures to be included in biosafety contexts, culminating in lower risks of self-contamination and heterocontamination in the healthcare system. KEYWORDS: Hospital biosafety. Contamination. COVID-19. A pandemia de COVID-19 modificou a vida em ambito global. Prejuizos economicos, culturais e sociais foram notados em grande escala, junto as incontaveis mortes. Diante disso, mudancas nas praticas hospitalares tornaram-se necessarias para evitar a propagacao do virus entre os profissionais e os pacientes internados. Diante desse contexto, o estudo objetivou discutir os impactos trazidos pela pandemia de COVID-19 ao ambiente hospitalar, incluindo as principais mudancas no intuito de evitar a disseminacao do virus. Para a realizacao da pesquisa, foram utilizados artigos originais, publicados em plataformas de referencia bibliografica, como SciELO e PubMed, em lingua portuguesa, nos ultimos 20 anos. Sendo assim, observou-se impactos no ambiente hospitalar, principalmente em relacao ao aumento da utilizacao de Equipamentos de Protecao Individual (EPIs) e coletiva (EPCs). Alem disso, a adocao do alcool 70% mostrou-se de intensa valia como antisseptico, minimizando os riscos de contaminacao. Portanto, e possivel inferir que apesar das praticas hospitalares anteriores a pandemia apresentarem relevancia, a alta transmissibilidade do virus SARS-CoV 2 obrigou que novas medidas fossem incluidas em contextos de biosseguranca, culminando em menores riscos de auto e heterocontaminacao no sistema de saude. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Biosseguranca hospitalar. Contaminacao. COVID-19.