Articles: personal-protective-equipment.
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Objective To determine the impact of Level C personal protective equipment (PPE) on the time to perform intravenous (IV) cannulation and endotracheal intubation, both with and without the use of adjuncts. Methods This prospective, case-control study of emergency medicine resident physicians was designed to assess the time taken by each subject to perform endotracheal intubation using both direct laryngoscopy (DL) and video laryngoscopy (VL), as well as peripheral IV cannulation both with and without ultrasound guidance and with and without PPE. ⋯ Conclusions Existing skill proficiency was maintained despite wearing PPE and there was no advantage with the addition of adjuncts such as video-assisted laryngoscopy and ultrasound-guided intravenous cannulation. A safe and cost-effective strategy might be to conduct basic, just-in-time PPE training to enhance familiarity with donning, doffing, and mobility, and couple this with the use of personnel who have maximal proficiency in the relevant emergency skill, instead of more expensive, continuous, skills-focused PPE training.
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On December 31, 2019, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission announced an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), China is now at a critical period in the control of the epidemic. The Chinese Government has been taking a series of rapid, comprehensive, and effective prevention and control measures. As the pandemic has developed, a fact has become apparent: there is a serious dearth of emergency medical supplies, and especially an extreme shortage of personal protective equipment such as masks and medical protective clothing. ⋯ Although China has made great efforts to strengthen the ability to quickly respond to public health emergencies since the SARS outbreak in 2003 and it has clarified requirements for emergency supplies through legislation, the emergency reserve supplies program has not been effectively implemented, and there are also deficiencies in the types, quantity, and availability of emergency medical supplies. A sound system of emergency reserve supplies is crucial to the management of public health emergencies. Based on international experiences with pandemic control, the world should emphasize improving the system of emergency reserve medical supplies in the process of establishing and improving public health emergency response systems, and it should promote the establishment of international cooperative programs to jointly deal with public health emergencies of international concern in the future.