European heart journal. Acute cardiovascular care
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Eur Heart J Acute Cardiovasc Care · Apr 2020
ReviewMental health care for medical staff and affiliated healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented challenge for society. Supporting the mental health of medical staff and affiliated healthcare workers (staff) is a critical part of the public health response. This paper details the effects on staff and addresses some of the organisational, team and individual considerations for supporting staff (pragmatically) during this pandemic. Leaders at all levels of health care organisations will find this a valuable resource.
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Therapeutic options for coronavirus disease 2019 are desperately needed to respond to the ongoing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic. Both antiviral drugs and immunomodulators might have their place in the management of coronavirus disease 2019. ⋯ Several clinical trials have already been conducted or are currently ongoing to evaluate the efficacy of such drugs. Here, we discuss the potential of these therapies for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019.
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Eur Heart J Acute Cardiovasc Care · Apr 2020
Ethical aspects of the COVID-19 crisis: How to deal with an overwhelming shortage of acute beds.
The current outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 has and continues to put huge pressure on intensive care units (ICUs) worldwide. Many patients with COVID-19 require some form of respiratory support and often have prolonged ICU stays, which results in a critical shortage of ICU beds. It is therefore not always physically possible to treat all the patients who require intensive care, raising major ethical dilemmas related to which patients should benefit from the limited resources and which should not. Here we consider some of the approaches to the acute shortages seen during this and other epidemics, including some guidelines for triaging ICU admissions and treatments.
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Eur Heart J Acute Cardiovasc Care · Mar 2020
Diagnostic performance of D-dimer in predicting venous thromboembolism and acute aortic dissection.
D-dimer is elevated in a variety of conditions. The purpose of this study was to assess the positive predictive value of D-dimer to rule in patients with confirmed pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis, acute aortic dissection or thrombosis of the upper extremity in comparison to patients with elevated D-dimer for other reasons. ⋯ D-dimers are useful not only to rule out but also to rule in venous thromboembolism and acute aortic dissection with an at least moderate discriminatory ability, both in patients with and without cancer.