• Marta Albalate, Patricia Arribas, Esther Torres, Melissa Cintra, Roberto Alcázar, Marta Puerta, Mayra Ortega, Fabio Procaccini, Juan Martin, Eva Jiménez, Inés Fernandez, Patricia de Sequera, Grupo de Enfermería HUIL, and Grupo enfermería HUIL.
• Servicio de Nefrología, Hospital Universitario Infanta Leonor, Madrid, España. Electronic address: malbalater@senefro.org.
• Nefrologia. 2020 May 1; 40 (3): 279-286.

Dialysis patients are a risk group for SARS-CoV-2 infection and possibly further complications, but we have little information. The aim of this paper is to describe the experience of the first month of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in a hospital haemodialysis (HD) unit serving the district of Madrid with the second highest incidence of COVID-19 (almost 1,000 patients in 100,000h). In the form of a diary, we present the actions undertaken, the incidence of COVID-19 in patients and health staff, some clinical characteristics and the results of screening all the patients in the unit. We started with 90 patients on HD: 37 (41.1%) had COVID-19, of whom 17 (45.9%) were diagnosed through symptoms detected in triage or during the session, and 15 (40.5%) through subsequent screening of those who, until that time, had not undergone SARS-CoV-2 PCR testing. Fever was the most frequent symptom, 50% had lymphopenia and 18.4% <95% O2 saturation. Sixteen (43.2%) patients required hospital admission and 6 (16.2%) died. We found a cluster of infection per shift and also among those using public transport. In terms of staff, of the 44 people involved, 15 (34%) had compatible symptoms, 4 (9%) were confirmed as SARS-CoV-2 PCR cases by occupational health, 9 (20%) required some period of sick leave, temporary disability to work (ILT), and 5 were considered likely cases. ConclusionsWe detected a high prevalence of COVID-19 with a high percentage detected by screening; hence the need for proactive diagnosis to stop the pandemic. Most cases are managed as outpatients, however severe symptoms are also appearing and mortality to date is 16.2%. In terms of staff, 20% have required sick leave in relation to COVID-19.Copyright © 2020 Sociedad Española de Nefrología. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

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