Articles: pandemics.
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Meta Analysis
Efficacy of supplemental hemoadsorption therapy on severe and critical patients with COVID-19: an evidence-based analysis.
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a disproportionately high threat to the global health system and social stability. COVID-19 damage can lead to hyperinflammation and tissue damage due to a "cytokine storm," which in turn contributes to an increase in the mortality rate. Extracorporeal hemoadsorption therapy (HAT) in patients with severe COVID-19 may improve organ function and stabilize hemodynamic status; however, the effects of supplemental HAT remain controversial. ⋯ Conclusion: Given the better mortality outcomes, HAT confers clinical benefits to patients with severe COVID-19, which correlated with cytokine removal by HAT. Cytokine adsorption may not provide clinical benefits for patients with severe COVID-19 requiring ECMO and should be used with caution. However, because of the very low quality of evidence, multicenter randomized trials with large sample sizes are required to verify these findings.
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Cochrane Db Syst Rev · Sep 2023
ReviewFactors that impact on recruitment to vaccine trials in the context of a pandemic or epidemic: a qualitative evidence synthesis.
The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic on 11 March 2020. Vaccine development and deployment were swiftly prioritised as a method to manage and control disease spread. The development of an effective vaccine relies on people's participation in randomised trials. Recruitment to vaccine trials is particularly challenging as it involves healthy volunteers who may have concerns around the potential risks and benefits associated with rapidly developed vaccines. ⋯ This review identifies many of the factors that influence a person's decision to take part in a vaccine trial, and these reflect findings from reviews that examine trials more broadly. However, we also recognise some factors that become more important in connection with a vaccine trial in the context of a pandemic or epidemic. These factors include the potential stigma of taking part, the possible adverse effects of a vaccine, the added motivation for helping society, the role of community leaders in trial dissemination, and the level of trust placed in governments and companies developing vaccines. These specific influences need to be considered by trial teams when designing, and communicating about, vaccine trials in the context of a pandemic or epidemic.
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The first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic brought substantial and dynamic changes to emergency department volumes and throughput. The objective of this study was to describe changes in ED boarding among US academic EDs across the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. ⋯ A sustained and considerable increase in boarding observed in selected US academic EDs during later phases of the COVID-19 pandemic may reflect ongoing stresses to the health care system, with potential consequences for patient outcomes as well as clinician well-being.
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During the first two waves of the COVID-19 emergency in Italy, internal medicine high-dependency wards (HDW) have been organized to manage patients with acute respiratory failure (ARF). There is heterogeneous evidence about the feasibility and outcomes of non-invasive respiratory supports (NIRS) in settings outside the intensive care unit (ICU), including in patients deemed not eligible for intubation (i.e., with do-not-intubate, DNI status). Few data are available about the different NIRS modalities applied to ARF patients in the newly assembled internal medicine HDW. ⋯ Multivariate regression models showed older age (odds ratio-OR 4.74), chronic ischemic heart disease (OR 2.76), high respiratory rate after 24 h (OR 7.13), and suspected acute respiratory distress syndrome-ARDS (OR 21.1) as predictors of mortality risk or ETI. Our real-life experience shows that NIRS was feasible in internal medicine HDW with an acceptable success rate. Although DNI patients had a worse prognosis, the use of NIRS represented a reasonable chance of treatment.
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Southern medical journal · Sep 2023
Multicenter Study Observational StudyA Multicenter Observational Study Comparing Virtual with In-Person Morning Reports during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic disrupted how educational conferences were delivered, leaving programs to choose between in-person and virtual morning report formats. The objective of our study was to describe morning reports during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the use of virtual formats, attendance, leadership, and content. ⋯ During the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual morning report formats predominated. Compared with traditional in-person reports, virtual report increased attendance, favored resident leadership, and approached a similar range of patient diagnoses with a greater number of case-based presentations and slides. In spite of these characteristics, all programs returned to an in-person format for morning report as pandemic restrictions waned.