Creation of a dedicated line team for critically ill patients with COVID-19: A multidisciplinary approach to maximize resource utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Pandemics create challenges for medical centers, which call for innovative adaptations to care for patients during the unusually high census, to distribute stress and work hours among providers, to reduce the likelihood of transmission to health care workers, and to maximize resource utilization. METHODS: We describe a multidisciplinary vascular access team's development to improve frontline providers' workflow by placing central venous and arterial catheters. Herein we describe the development, organization, and processes resulting in the rapid formation and deployment of this team, reporting on notable clinical issues encountered, which might serve as a basis for future quality improvement and investigation. We describe a retrospective, single-center descriptive study in a large, quaternary academic medical center in a major city. The COVID-19 vascular access team included physicians with specialized experience in placing invasive catheters and whose usual clinical schedule had been lessened through deferment of elective cases. The target population included patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 in the medical ICU (MICU) needing invasive catheter placement. The line team placed all invasive catheters on patients in the MICU with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Primary data collected were the number and type of catheters placed, time of team member exposure to potentially infected patients, and any complications over the first three weeks. Secondary outcomes pertained to workflow enhancement and quality improvement. 145 invasive catheters were placed on 67 patients. Of these 67 patients, 90% received arterial catheters, 64% central venous catheters, and 25% hemodialysis catheters. None of the central venous catheterizations or hemodialysis catheters were associated with early complications. Arterial line malfunction due to thrombosis was the most frequent complication. Division of labor through specialized expert procedural teams is feasible during a pandemic and offloads frontline providers while potentially conferring safety benefits.

Are red blood cell transfusions associated with nosocomial infections in pediatric intensive care units?

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether red blood cell transfusion is similarly associated with nosocomial infections in pediatric intensive care unit patients and whether reduced lymphocyte numbers is a possible mechanism. In adult studies, red blood cell transfusions are associated with nosocomial infections. DESIGN: Historical cohort study. SETTING: Single-center, mixed medical-surgical, closed pediatric intensive care unit of a tertiary university-affiliated children's hospital. PATIENTS: All patients < or = 18 yrs old admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit during a 6-month period from January 1 to July 3, 2005. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Nosocomial infections (respiratory, urinary tract, and bloodstream infections) were the primary outcome measure and were defined as post transfusion if occurring within 14 days after red blood cell transfusion. Of the 209 subjects enrolled, 32 (15%) acquired nosocomial infections and 45 (22%) received red blood cell transfusions. Patients with versus without nosocomial infections had received red blood cell transfusions significantly more often (odds ratio, 18.0; 95% confidence interval, 7.6-45.9; p < .001). In a dose-dependence analysis, we found that patients receiving > or = 3 red blood cell transfusions had a similar prevalence of nosocomial infections compared with those receiving one to two red blood cell transfusions (61% vs. 44%, p = .365), but greater mortality (22% vs. 0%, p = .04). In a multiple logistic regression analysis controlling for gender, age, pediatric intensive care unit length of stay, presence of an invasive catheter, mechanical ventilation, and surgery, red blood cell transfusion remained independently associated with risk of nosocomial infection (odds ratio, 3.73; 95% confidence interval, 1.19-11.85, p = .023). Transfused subjects had lower absolute lymphocyte counts compared with nontransfused subjects (1605 vs. 2054/microL, p = .041), but similar total white blood cell counts (10.4 vs. 11.4 x 10/microL, p = .52). CONCLUSION: Red blood cell transfusion in pediatric intensive care unit patients is associated with an increased risk of nosocomial infections.