Articles: sars-cov-2.
-
Definitions of long COVID are evolving, and optimal models of care are uncertain. ⋯ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (Protocol posted at https://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/products/long-covid-models-care/protocol.).
-
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on population health and hospital operations. Over 7 million patients have been hospitalized for COVID-19 thus far in the United States alone. Mortality rates for hospitalized patients during the first wave of the pandemic were > 30%, but as we enter the fifth year of the pandemic hospitalizations have fallen and mortality rates for hospitalized patients with COVID-19 have plummeted to 5% or less. ⋯ At the same time, the pandemic has helped highlight some longstanding sources of harm for hospitalized patients including hospital-acquired pneumonia, ventilator-associated events (VAEs), and hospital-acquired respiratory viral infections. We are, thankfully, on the leeside of the pandemic at present; but the large increases in ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), VAEs, bacterial superinfections, and nosocomial respiratory viral infections associated with the pandemic beg the question of how best to prevent these complications moving forward. This paper reviews the burden of hospitalization for COVID-19, the intersection between COVID-19 and both VAP and VAEs, the frequency and impact of hospital-acquired respiratory viral infections, new recommendations on how best to prevent VAP and VAEs, and current insights into effective strategies to prevent nosocomial spread of respiratory viruses.
-
To combat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), booster vaccination strategies are important. However, the optimal administration of booster vaccine platforms remains unclear. Herein, we aimed to assess the benefits and harms of three or four heterologous versus homologous booster regimens. ⋯ With our current sample sizes, we were not able to infer differences of effects for any outcomes, but heterologous booster regimens seem to cause more non-serious AE. Furthermore, more robust data are instrumental to update this review.
-
This article summarizes recent developments in the application of telemedicine, specifically tele-critical care (TCC), toward enhancing patient care during various types of emergencies and patient rescue scenarios when there are limited resources in terms of staff expertise (i.e., knowledge, skills, and abilities), staffing numbers, space, and supplies due to patient location (e.g., a non-ICU bed, the emergency department, a rural hospital) or patient volume as in pandemic surges. ⋯ In this review, we summarize numerous examples of innovative care delivery systems that have utilized telemedicine, focusing on 'mobile' TCC technology solutions to effectively deliver the best care to the patient regardless of patient location. We emphasize how a 'paradigm of better' can enhance the entirety of the healthcare system.