Quality Assessment of Emergency Corrective Maintenance of Critical Care Ventilators Within the Context of COVID-19 in São Paulo, Brazil

This paper presents the process of quality assessment of emergency corrective maintenance of critical care ventilators in a node, IPT-POLI, of a voluntary network, the initiative + Maintenance of Ventilators, led by SENAI-CIMATEC to perform maintenance on unused mechanical ventilators during the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. A procedure was developed for quality assessment of equipment subjected to corrective emergency maintenance, covering the main points of three main standards for performance and safety assessment. A set of seven critical care ventilators was evaluated according to the following parameters: leakage current, resistance of protective earth, accuracy of control and instruments, delivered oxygen test, and alarms. All evaluated ventilators were out of use for more than 2 years and underwent corrective emergency maintenance before having their performance and safety assessment. In electrical safety tests, all equipment presented values prescribed for the standard. In the assessment of ventilator parameters, all equipment did not perform sufficiently according to the standard. It was possible to conclude that the choice of criteria to perform the quality assessment in critical care ventilators proved to be important and can be a report of great value for future pandemic scenarios such as that experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Transcranial direct current stimulation as a strategy to manage COVID-19 pain and fatigue

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has infected millions of people worldwide and generated many sequels in the survivors, such as muscular pain and fatigue. These symptoms have been treated through pharmacological approaches;however, infected people keep presenting physical limitations. Besides, the COVID-19 damage to the central nervous system has also been related to the presence of some physical impairment, so strategies that focus on diverse brain areas should be encouraged. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a non-pharmacological tool that could be associated with pharmacological treatments to improve the central nervous system function and decrease the exacerbation of the immune system response. tDCS targeting pain and fatigue-related areas could provide an increase in neuroplasticity and enhancements in physical functions. Moreover, it can be used in infirmaries and clinical centers to treat COVID-19 patients.

COVID-19 and social isolation: The consequences of not exercising for older adults' health

COVID-19 pandemic has required social isolation to prevent the virus from spreading. Initially, the elderly were the most affected by the novel coronavirus. However, the virus spread out worldwide, affecting all age groups. The elderly are commonly affected by several chronic diseases, and as a consequence of social isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the community-based exercise programs, which usually provide health and well-being to the elderly, have stopped their activities to avoid the virus to spread out;so, the elderly kept taking medicines but stopped exercising, which must impair their health and increase demand from the public health system. In this sense, the physical education professional is essential to providing safe approaches to the elderly who are not able to enroll in community-based exercise programs but need to exercise to improve their health. This article aims to discuss the consequences of not exercising in older adults' health during the social isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic;still, we intend to present adjunct strategies to allow the elderly to exercise even socially isolated.