Practical strategies to reduce nosocomial transmission to healthcare professionals providing respiratory care to patients with COVID-19
Ramandeep Kaur,
Tyler T. Weiss,
Andrew Perez,
James B. Fink,
Rongchang Chen,
Fengming Luo,
Zongan Liang,
Sara Mirza,
Jie Li
Affiliations
Ramandeep Kaur
Division of Respiratory Care, Department of Cardiopulmonary Sciences, Rush University Medical Center
Tyler T. Weiss
Division of Respiratory Care, Department of Cardiopulmonary Sciences, Rush University Medical Center
Andrew Perez
Division of Respiratory Care, Department of Cardiopulmonary Sciences, Rush University Medical Center
James B. Fink
Division of Respiratory Care, Department of Cardiopulmonary Sciences, Rush University Medical Center
Rongchang Chen
Shenzhen Institute of Respiratory Disease, Shenzhen People’s Hospital (First Affiliated Hospital of South University of Science and Technology of China)
Fengming Luo
Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, West China Medical Center of Sichuan University
Zongan Liang
Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, West China Medical Center of Sichuan University
Sara Mirza
Division of Respiratory Care, Department of Cardiopulmonary Sciences, Rush University Medical Center
Jie Li
Division of Respiratory Care, Department of Cardiopulmonary Sciences, Rush University Medical Center
Abstract 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.
