Psychological Impact of Quarantine on Caregivers at a Children's Hospital for Contact with Case of COVID-19

Quarantine often provokes negative psychological consequences. Thus, we aimed to identify the psychological and behavioral responses and stressors of caregivers quarantined with young patients after a close contact to a coronavirus disease 2019 case at a children's hospital. More than 90% of the caregivers reported feelings of worry and nervousness, while some of them reported suicidal ideations (4.2%), and/or homicidal ideations (1.4%). Fear of infection of the patient (91.7%) and/or oneself (86.1%) were most frequently reported stressors. A multidisciplinary team including infection control team, pediatrician, psychiatrist, nursing staff and legal department provided supplies and services to reduce caregiver's psychological distress. Psychotropic medication was needed in five (6.9%), one of whom was admitted to the psychiatry department due to suicidality. Quarantine at a children's hospital makes notable psychological impacts on the caregivers and a multidisciplinary approach is required.

Performance Evaluation of Infusion Systems for Red Blood Cell Transfusion

BACKGROUND: Transfusion in neonates and infants can be performed using an electromechanical infusion system that has appropriate accuracy in terms of flow rate, volume, and bolus. However, there are no infusion systems approved for transfusion in Korea. In this study, we evaluate the performance of two electromechanical infusion systems for transfusion in pediatric patients. METHODS: We tested two systems, Baxter and Terumo, using 9 units of leukocyte-filtered red blood cells. The blood samples were delivered through the systems at constant speeds of 10, 30, and 100 mL/hr, and the accuracy in terms of the delivered volume was estimated. Before and after infusion, hemoglobin, hematocrit, plasma hemoglobin, potassium, and lactate dehydrogenase levels were measured in each sample. The percentage of hemolysis (%Hemolysis) was calculated to evaluate the safety of the infusion systems. RESULTS: For Terumo, the mean error rate of the infused volume was less than 5%. We expect that Terumo can transfuse blood at a volume close to the set volume. Further, both infusion systems showed acceptable %Hemolysis levels (mean±standard deviation: Terumo, 0.14±0.04; Baxter, 0.17±0.06). CONCLUSIONS: Both infusion systems can be used safely for transfusion in pediatric patients.