End-of-life care in patients with a highly transmissible respiratory virus: implications for COVID-19.

Symptom management and end-of-life care are core skills for all physicians, although in ordinary times many anesthesiologists have fewer occasions to use these skills. The current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has caused significant mortality over a short time and has necessitated an increase in provision of both critical care and palliative care. For anesthesiologists deployed to units caring for patients with COVID-19, this narrative review provides guidance on conducting goals of care discussions, withdrawing life-sustaining measures, and managing distressing symptoms.

RéSUMé: La prise en charge des symptômes et les soins de fin de vie sont des compétences de base pour tous les médecins, bien qu'en temps ordinaire, de nombreux anesthésiologistes n'ont que peu d'occasions de mettre en pratique ces compétences. La pandémie actuelle de coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) a provoqué un taux de mortalité significatif dans un court intervalle et a nécessité une augmentation des besoins en soins intensifs et en soins palliatifs. Destiné aux anesthésiologistes déployés dans les unités prenant soin de patients atteints de la COVID-19, ce compte rendu narratif offre des recommandations quant à la façon de mener les discussions à propos des objectifs de soins, du retrait des thérapies de soutien vital, et de la prise en charge de symptômes de détresse.

Improving Tolerance to Snorkel Mask Use as Alternative Personal Protective Equipment.

Snorkel masks have become an option for personal protective equipment (PPE) due to the shortage of air filtration at least 95% of airborne particle (N95) masks as a result of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We developed a 3D design of a triheaded adapter that connects a snorkel mask to 3 different National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)-approved air filtration at least 99% of airborne particles (N99) filters with the aim of improving wearer comfort. We measured the resistance of the new triheaded adapter to be one-third the resistance of the single adapter. Interdepartmental survey of anesthesiologists showed an improvement in perceived comfort when using the triheaded adapter as compared to the single adapter.

Anesthesia for Patients Undergoing Anesthesia for Elective Thoracic Surgery During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Consensus Statement From the Israeli Society of Anesthesiologists.

Anesthesia for thoracic surgery requires specialist intervention to provide adequate operating conditions and one-lung ventilation. The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is transmitted by aerosol and droplet spread. Because of its virulence, there is a risk of transmission to healthcare workers if appropriate preventive measures are not taken. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients may show no clinical signs at the early stages of the disease or even remain asymptomatic for the whole course of the disease. Despite the lack of symptoms, they may be able to transfer the virus. Unfortunately, during current COVID-19 testing procedures, about 30% of tests are associated with a false-negative result. For these reasons, standard practice is to assume all patients are COVID-19 positive regardless of swab results. Here, the authors present the recommendations produced by the Israeli Society of Anesthesiologists for use in thoracic anesthesia for elective surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic for both the general population and COVID-19-confirmed patients. The objective of these recommendations is to make changes to some routine techniques in thoracic anesthesia to augment patients' and the medical staff's safety.

Infection Prevention Strategy in Operating Room during Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Outbreak.

A novel coronavirus that emerged in late 2019 rapidly spread around the world. Most severe cases need endotracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation, and some mild cases may need emergent surgery under general anesthesia. The novel coronavirus was reported to transmit via droplets, contact and natural aerosols from human to human. Therefore, aerosol-producing procedures such as endotracheal intubation and airway suction may put the healthcare providers at high risk of nosocomial infection. Based on recently published articles, this review provides detailed feasible recommendations for primary anesthesiologists on infection prevention in operating room during COVID-19 outbreak.

Anesthesiologists' and Intensive Care Providers' Exposure to COVID-19 Infection in a New York City Academic Center: A Prospective Cohort Study Assessing Symptoms and COVID-19 Antibody Testing.

BACKGROUND: Protecting first-line health care providers against work-related coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection at the onset of the pandemic has been a crucial challenge in the United States. Anesthesiologists in particular are considered at risk, since aerosol-generating procedures, such as intubation and extubation, have been shown to significantly increase the odds for respiratory infections during severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreaks. This study assessed the incidence of COVID-19-like symptoms and the presence of COVID-19 antibodies after work-related COVID-19 exposures, among physicians working in a large academic hospital in New York City (NYC). METHODS: An e-mail survey was addressed to anesthesiologists and affiliated intensive care providers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center on April 15, 2020. The survey assessed 4 domains: (1) demographics and medical history, (2) community exposure to COVID-19 (eg, use of NYC subway), (3) work-related exposure to COVID-19, and (4) development of COVID-19-like symptoms after work exposure. The first 100 survey responders were invited to undergo a blood test to assess antibody status (presence of immunoglobulin M [IgM]/immunoglobulin G [IgG] specific to COVID-19). Work-related exposure was defined as any episode where the provider was not wearing adequate personal protective equipment (airborne or droplet/contact protection depending on the exposure type). Based on the clinical scenario, work exposure was categorized as high risk (eg, exposure during intubation) or low risk (eg, exposure during doffing). RESULTS: Two hundred and five health care providers were contacted and 105 completed the survey (51%); 91 completed the serological test. Sixty-one of the respondents (58%) reported at least 1 work-related exposure and 54% of the exposures were high risk. Among respondents reporting a work-related exposure, 16 (26.2%) reported postexposure COVID-19-like symptoms. The most frequent symptoms were myalgia (9 cases), diarrhea (8 cases), fever (7 cases), and sore throat (7 cases). COVID-19 antibodies were detected in 11 of the 91 tested respondents (12.1%), with no difference between respondents with (11.8%) or without (12.5%) a work-related exposure, including high-risk exposure. Compared with antibody-negative respondents, antibody-positive respondents were more likely to use NYC subway to commute to work and report COVID-19-like symptoms in the past 90 days. CONCLUSIONS: In the epicenter of the United States' pandemic and within 6-8 weeks of the COVID-19 outbreak, a small proportion of anesthesiologists and affiliated intensive care providers reported COVID-19-like symptoms after a work-related exposure and even fewer had detectable COVID-19 antibodies. The presence of COVID-19 antibodies appeared to be associated with community/environmental transmission rather than secondary to work-related exposures involving high-risk procedures.

Reconfiguring the scope and practice of regional anesthesia in a pandemic: the COVID-19 perspective.

The COVID-19 outbreak is on the world. While many countries have imposed general lockdown, emergency services are continuing. Healthcare professionals have been infected with the virulent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS), which spreads by close contact and aerosols. The anesthesiologist is particularly vulnerable to aerosols while performing intubation and other airway related procedures. Regional anesthesia (RA) minimizes the need for airway manipulation and the risks of cross infection to other patients, and the healthcare personnel. In this context, for prioritizing RA over general anesthesia, wherever possible, a structured algorithmic approach is outlined. The role of percentage saturation of hemoglobin with oxygen (oxygen saturation), blood pressure and early use of point-of-care ultrasound in differential diagnosis and specific management is detailed. The perioperative anesthetic implications of multisystem manifestations of COVID-19, anesthetic management options, the scope of RA and considerations for its safe conduct in operating rooms is described. An outline for safe and rapid training of healthcare personnel, with an Entrustable Professional Activity framework for ascertaining the practice readiness among trained residents for RA in COVID-19, is suggested. These are the authors' experiences gained from the current pandemic and similar SARS, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome and influenza outbreaks in recent past faced by our authors in Singapore, India, Hong Kong and Canada.

Attitudes of Anesthesiology Specialists and Residents toward Patients Infected with the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19): A National Survey Study.

Background: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) emerged in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. This study aims to evaluate the knowledge of anesthesiology specialists and residents in Turkey about COVID-19 and their attitudes toward the strategies and application methods to be used for a suspected/confirmed COVID-19 case that needs to be operated on or followed up in an intensive care unit, as well as to raise awareness about this issue. Methods: This descriptive study comprised anesthesiology specialists and residents working in various health institutions in Turkey. The data used in this study were obtained online between March 13, 2020 and March 25, 2020 through the website SurveyMonkey (SurveyMonkey, San Mateo, CA) by using a survey form. We contacted members of the Turkish Anaesthesiology and Reanimation Society through the social media platforms Twitter, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp, as well as through their e-mail addresses and invited them to participate in the study. Those who agreed to participate responded to the aforementioned survey. We used SPSS 22.0 (IBM, Armonk, NY) to analyze the survey data statistically. Results: A total of 346 anesthesiology specialists and residents participated in the study. Although the majority of the participants exhibited the correct attitudes toward airway management, research assistants with little professional experience were observed to be undecided or had the tendency to make incorrect decisions. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic is spreading rapidly worldwide. The incidence of COVID-19 cases is increasing daily, and this disease can cause patient death. Anesthesiology specialists and residents who perform emergency operations on these patients in settings other than intensive care units should follow simple and easy-to-understand algorithms to ensure safety. The provision of theoretical and practical training to healthcare providers before they meet patients will help ensure patient-healthcare provider safety and prevent panic, which can cause distress among healthcare providers.