Articles: pandemics.
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Critical care medicine · Jun 2022
Patient-Centered Outcomes Following COVID-19: Frailty and Disability Transitions in Critical Care Survivors.
As the pandemic advances, the interest in the long-lasting consequences of COVID-19 increases. However, a few studies have explored patient-centered outcomes in critical care survivors. We aimed to investigate frailty and disability transitions in COVID-19 patients admitted to ICUs. ⋯ Frailty and disability were more frequent 90 days after hospital discharge compared with baseline in COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU. Our results show that most COVID-19 critical care survivors transition to poorer health status, highlighting the importance of long-term medical follow-up for this population.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jun 2022
Observational StudyChanges in Surgical Volume and Outcomes During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic at Two Tertiary Hospitals in Ethiopia: A Retrospective Cohort Study.
Limited data exist concerning how the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected surgical care in low-resource settings. We sought to describe associations between the COVID-19 pandemic and surgical care and outcomes at 2 tertiary hospitals in Ethiopia. ⋯ Analysis at 2 low-resource referral hospitals in Ethiopia during the COVID-19 pandemic showed a reduction in surgical case volume during and after lockdown. At ACSH, more patients were from outside districts during lockdown where the opposite was true at TGSH. These findings suggest that during the pandemic patients may experience delays in seeking or obtaining surgical care. However, for patients who underwent surgery, prepandemic and postpandemic perioperative mortalities did not show significant difference. These results may inform surgical plans during future public health crises.
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Critical care nurse · Jun 2022
Rapid Deployment of Team Nursing During a Pandemic: Implementation Strategies and Lessons Learned.
The COVID-19 pandemic increased the number of patients requiring intensive care nation-wide, leading to nurse staffing shortages in many units. ⋯ Team nursing in the intensive care unit is an agile tactic easily replicated in dire staffing situations.
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Strategies to maintain hospital capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic included reducing hospital length of stay (LOS) for infected patients. We sought to evaluate the association between LOS and enrollment in the COVID Accelerated Care Pathway, which consisted of a hospital observation protocol and postdischarge automated text message-based monitoring. ⋯ Patients with COVID-19 who were managed through an accelerated hospital observation protocol and postdischarge monitoring service had reduced hospital LOS compared with patients receiving standard care. Hospital preparedness for future public health emergencies may involve the design of pathways that reduce the time that patients spend in the hospital, lower cost, and ensure continued recovery upon discharge.