ABSTRACT
Objective: to describe the Primary Care (PC) scenario regarding reconditioning, equipment and organization of services in order to face the pandemic and to measure the perception by professionals regarding these adaptations. Method: a research with mixed method in a city of the San Pablo state (Brazil). In the quantitative stage, a descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in 222 PC professionals;the adapted Risk assessment and management of exposure of health care workers in the context of COVID-19 questionnaire by the World Health Organization was implemented. This was followed by the qualitative approach, which consisted in field observation in four PC units. Results: out of the total, 86.94% (n= 193) mentioned that there was an assessment of the signs and symptoms of the users before consultation;63.96% (n=142) stated that a daily cleaning routine was followed in the waiting room;92.34% (n= 205) claimed that there were methods available for hand hygiene;77.48% (n= 172) said that appointments were scheduled in order to maintain physical distancing;80.12% (n= 178) had not conducted any reconditioning work, and 45.95% (n=102) provided educational materials to users. Conclusions: during field observation, some assessments for signs and symptoms in users were detected;no cleaning actions were observed in the units, it was perceived that there was not enough alcohol gel in the dispenser, there were no marks on the floor to keep distancing, there was a lack of educational materials, and it was not verified that any reconditioning work had been conducted. During data integration, there was convergence regarding physical structure and unit reconditioning. © 2023 DAE Editorial, Grupo Paradigma. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Background: This is a secondary analysis of prospectively acquired data approved by the hospital institutional board committee. We performed a retrospective chart review of 463 patients who underwent a CT Chest for suspected COVID-19 infection between April 1st, 2020, and March 31st, 2021. Patients were grouped based on the CT chest obtained protocol: ultra-low dose or full dose. The likelihood of suspicion of COVID-19 infection was classified on a Likert scale based on the probability of pulmonary involvement. For each group, the sensitivity and specificity of CT were compared to nasopharyngeal swab as standard of reference. The median dose length product and duration of apnea were compared between both groups using two-tailed Mann–Whitney U test. The aim of this study is to share our experience of reducing radiation dose in COVID-19 patients by using an ultra-low dose CT chest protocol on a 16 row multidetector CT scan in a hospital with limited resources. Results: Two hundred sixty-nine patients underwent a full dose CT and 194 patients an ultra-low dose CT. In the former group, the median dose length product was 341.11 mGy*cm [Interquartile range (IQR), 239.1–443.2] and the median duration of apnea was 13.29 s [IQR, 10.85–15.73]. In the latter group, the median dose length product was 30.8 mGy*cm [IQR, 28.9–32.7] and median duration of apnea was 8.27 s [IQR, 7.69–8.85]. The sensitivity of the ultra-low dose CT was 91.2% and that of the full dose was 94%. Conclusion: A 90% reduction in estimated dose and 38% reduction in apnea duration could be achieved using an ultra-low dose CT chest protocol on a 16-row MDCT without significant loss in the sensitivity of CT to detect COVID-related parenchymal involvement.