ABSTRACT
Aims To determine the incidence of COVID-19 transmission following outpatient gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy duringrising community incidence of COVID-19. Methods This prospective study was conducted in a single tertiary referral centre in Dublin. Consecutive patients whoattended the endoscopy unit for a procedure at time points in June, September, and October 2020 were included. Patientsreceived a COVID-19 triage phone call 48 hours before their procedure. COVID-19 testing was not performed beforeoutpatient endoscopy. Inpatients and any outpatient that failed telephone triage were excluded. Standard surgical masks,FFPs and PPE were used by endoscopy staff for all procedures. Patients were contacted 14 days after the procedure toenquire if they had developed symptoms suggestive of COVID-19. Results 522 patients who had GI endoscopy were enrolled, and 506(96.9 %) were contacted for follow up. 163, 157, and186 patients were included in June, September, and October respectively. The mean age was 55.6(range 16-92). Nationallythere were 558, 7430, and 25476 new cases of COVID-19 in June, September, and October respectively. In the two weeks post endoscopy, 7/506(1.3 %) patients required testing for symptoms suggestive of COVID-19. Allpatients had negative results. No member of our endoscopy personnel contracted COVID-19 during the study period. Conclusions This study highlights that the risk of COVID-19 transmission related to GI endoscopy is negligible despitedramatic escalation in community infection.
ABSTRACT
Background: Personal protective equipment (PPE) is one of the protective equipment that health workers can use to protect themselves against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19);however, it is accompanied by some problems for medical staff. Since severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is not transmitted through healthy skin, the hypothesis was examined as to whether the cotton gown could be used instead of PPE. Methods: The medical staff of the Neonatal Care Unit took care of 51 patients with 1180 shifts. During the first and a half months, the medical personnel used a special PPE package for providing care of patients, which included an airimpermeable plastic gown with a head-to-toe cover, an N95 mask, gloves, and a face shield. However, from the beginning of the epidemic, doctors used cotton surgical gowns instead of the ones in the package. Following that, the nursing team gradually replaced the air-impermeable plastic gowns with cotton surgical gowns, and finally, all the staff used the cotton gowns. Results: After three months, all medical staff was evaluated for clinical signs of COVID-19, such as fever, cough, nausea, and headache. During these three months, no symptoms or absence due to illness were observed in the staff. It should be mentioned that the antibody titer was not evaluated at the end of the study. Conclusion: A retrospective review of the staff showed that the cotton surgical gown protected the staff against COVID-19. Accordingly, the cotton surgical gown can be used in medical centers to replace PPE sets containing an air-impermeable plastic gown with a head-to-toe cover. The result of this study can improve some of the problems of the medical staff.