Physician's Perception about the Use of PPE, COVID-19 Prevention and Management in Bangladesh

This study aims to explore physician's perceptions about the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), COVID prevention, and management during the COVID pandemic since knowledge on these might explain the reason behind infection and death of physicians in Bangladesh at an unexpected rate. This cross-sectional study was conducted based on an online questionnaire on 346 physicians (n=346) by the Department of Gastroenterology of Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, Bangladesh from 15th July 2020 to 14th September 2020. Physicians of different health care facilities across Bangladesh were invited to take part. Knowledge on specific points of the questionnaire was evaluated, scored, and compared between different groups by Independent sample t-test. Mean knowledge score between the respondents working up to 8 hours and beyond 8 hours per day was 17.28+/-1.28, 16.90+/-1.40 respectively (p=0.03). Mean knowledge score observed between graduate and post-graduate physicians and work experience of 5 years and beyond 5 years were 17.26+/-1.36 vs. 17.16+/-1.27;(p=0.40), 16.87+/-1.75 vs. 17.27+/-1.21;(p=0.11) respectively. Physician's safety should be first concern that is highlighted through proper use of PPE and prevention of COVID. Patient management skills would be better if physicians are trained well on infection prevention and control which in turn will reduce infection and death of physicians.

Impact of COVID 19 outbreak on gastrointestinal practices in Bangladesh

Background and Aim: Deadly coronavirus declared as pandemic in March 2020 by WHO, squeezing all the health facilities into a narrow passage. COVID 19 outbreak has severely affected endoscopy practices throughout the world. We conducted the first national survey among gastroenterologists of Bangladesh to assess the impact of COVID 19 outbreak on gastrointestinal practices. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted through self-administered online questionnaire (SurveyMonkey). To collect data, 151 practicing gastroenterologists across Bangladesh were contacted through e-mail with the questionnaire link from 6th July to 27th July. To assess the impact of COVID 19 outbreak in Bangladesh (7th March), along with others, information on gastrointestinal practices (inpatients, outpatients, endoscopy, and colonoscopy procedures) at hospitals were collected. Data were analyzed descriptively, while Mann-Whitney test was used to find the significance of difference of GI services. Results: About half of the respondents were in the age group of 40-50 years, and 47% were working as assistant professor. The respondents followed the British Society of Gastroenterology guideline (25%), local guideline (25%), and other guidelines (25%). 47% had to close their private chambers, and 11.3% provided online or over telephone consultations. The median of weekly hospital admissions (from 50 to 10, p = 0.00), outpatients services (from 160 to 30, p = 0.00), endoscopies (from 50 to 3.5, p = 0.00), and colonoscopies (from 13 to 0, p = 0.00) decreased significantly after COVID 19 outbreak. About 10% of gastroenterologists were infected with COVID 19, and majorities (60%) of them were treated in home isolation. Conclusion: This study showed that there is significant reduction of endoscopy practices occur due to COVID 19 outbreak both in public and private settings. Gastroenterologists are more vulnerable to COVID 19 infections. Gastroenterologists should follow single best guideline rather than using multiple guideline haphazardly.

BLOOD COLLECTION AND USAGE DURING CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK

A signifcant concern of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is the dramatic decrease in the number of blood donation drives across Malaysia. The pandemic is putting a strain on the blood inventory and supply, especially to transfusion-dependent patients;i.e., thalassemia major, sickle cell disease and cancer patients. This is a retrospective cross-sectional study carried out at the Transfusion Medicine Unit, Hospital USM from December 2019 to April 2020. Data on blood donation and blood component usage were collected and tabulated three months (18th December 2019 to 17th March 2020) before movement control order (MCO) and during the frst phase of MCO (18th March to 17th April 2020). Whole blood units that were donated via mobile drives were predominantly affected with the number of blood donors in blood mobiles decreased by 80.7% during MCO. The decreasing pattern was due to the cancellation of 25 mobile drives, which targeted 1267 blood donors. Blood usage was also escalating down to 840 during the CO, which was due to no elective operations, admissions, or procedures done during the MCO. Routine blood donation and collection thus need to be resumed in less affected areas to meet the clinical needs with greater precaution against COVID-19 infections. © 2021, Penerbit UMT. All Rights Reserved