Coronavirus / COVID-19 Procedures

While different types of diagnostic tests may be used to detect coronavirus disease, a nasopharyngeal swab test is the most common. The test must be performed by a trained healthcare provider. If cell culture is collected in a wrong manner, the diagnosis obtained may be incorrect. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that providers use a sterile dacron or rayon swab with a flexible, plastic shaft for deep nasal sampling. Cotton, calcium alginate swabs, or swabs with wooden sticks may...

Appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) should be worn when screening patients for COVID19. The PPE package must include: Gown, Gloves, Respirator or medical mask Eye protection The following protocol describes the proper procedures for donning and doffing PPE.

Handwashing is an easy and simple way for healthcare providers to ensure a safe and healthy environment for both the healthcare provider and the patient. The following steps should be followed before and after patient contact. Wet your hands with lukewarm water.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that healthcare providers perform screening tests on patients with symptoms of COVID-19 in an isolated room to protect other patients from potential exposure to the virus.  The Smart Pod, a rapidly deployable medical facility that was designed in the wake of the Ebola virus, can serve as a biocontainment unit for airborne pathogens. This emergency solution has been developed by Baylor College of Medicine as a nimble, standardized...

In pandemic times, medical staff is becoming a key resource in fighting the infection. To achieve the best medical care, relevant techniques and procedures have to be taught to medical staff to reduce the risk of infection. COVID patients often need mechanical ventilation due to progredient respiratory insufficiency, so an endotracheal intubation becomes a critical procedure in managing these patients. This procedure has an increased risk of infection due to aerosol formation and working with...

In pandemic times, medical staff is becoming a key resource in fighting the infection. To achieve the best medical care, relevant techniques and procedures have to be taught to medical staff while reducing the risk of infection. COVID patients often suffer from respiratory insufficiency and increased intrapulmonal secretion. A bronchoscopy is one of the standard procedures for resolving respiratory tract obstruction in intensive care medicine. On the downside, this procedure has a high...

In pandemic times, medical staff is becoming a key resource in fighting the infection. To achieve the best medical care, relevant techniques and procedures have to be taught to medical staff while reducing the risk of infection. Intensive care medical treatment can necessitate central venous catheters due to different indications like vasopressor therapy or treatment of the patient with vein irrigating substances. This video shows the placement of central venous catheters for intensive care...

During pandemics, medical staff become a key resource in treating and managing patients with these infectious diseases. To achieve the best medical care, relevant techniques and procedures must be taught to medical staff which minimize the risk of work-related transmission of infection. When carrying out hemodynamic monitoring in cardiovascularly unstable patients, it is possible to utilize a Pulse Contour Cardiac Output (PiCCO) catheter. This system utilizes a thermodilution method to analyze...

In pandemic times, medical staff is becoming a key resource in fighting the infection. To achieve the best medical care, relevant techniques and procedures have to be taught to medical staff while reducing the risk of infection. Blood cultures play a key role in an effective anti-infective therapy regime. As COVID-19 patients develop bacterial superinfections in the damaged pulmonary tissue, using the correct technique to obtain blood culture samples and following anti-infective therapy are...

In pandemic times, medical staff is becoming a key resource in fighting the infection. To achieve the best medical care, relevant techniques and procedures have to be taught to medical staff while reducing the risk of infection. COVID-19 patients often develop an acute respiratory distress syndrome with respiratory failure. Prone positioning is established as a core component of management in COVID-19 patients, to enable ventilation of a greater lung area and thereby improve gas exchange. This...

In pandemic times, medical staff is becoming a key resource in fighting the infection. To achieve the best medical care, relevant techniques and procedures have to be taught to medical staff to reduce the risk of infection. In this video the donning of personal protective gear prior to treating COVID-19 patients is shown. A technique to reuse protective facemasks in shortage of supplies is also...

In pandemic times, medical staff is becoming a key resource in fighting the infection. To achieve the best medical care, relevant techniques and procedures have to be taught to medical staff to reduce the risk of infection. Doffing the contaminated personal protective gear after treating COVID-19 patients has a high risk of forming infective aerosols which could lead to an infection of the medical staff. In this video, the manner of doffing of personal protective gear to minimize the risk of...