Articles: personal-protective-equipment.
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Mult Scler Relat Disord · Oct 2020
Adherence to social distancing and use of personal protective equipment and the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a cohort of patients with multiple sclerosis.
Background Aiming to safeguard its population from COVID19 infection, Italian government provided specific advices, especially to fragile individuals such those affected by Multiple Sclerosis (MS), to respect social distancing, to arrange remote work and to use personal protective equipment (PPE). The aim of this study is to investigate real adherence to these measures among MS patients and to evaluate its impact on exposure to infection. Methods MS patients followed at the MS center of Tor Vergata University hospital, Rome, Italy were asked to complete an anonymous 35-items web-survey exploring demographics, residency, employment, social distancing habits, use of PPE, MS features and COVID19 infection data, including self-reported information about contacts with SARS-CoV-2 positive/presumed positive persons. ⋯ Conclusions MS patients, especially those with social unfavorable conditions, demonstrated good adherence to social distancing and use of protection equipment. Implementing domains, such as social assistance, may improve protection from infection. LS score is potentially able to identify subjects with behaviors at greater risk of infection, although it needs to be validated against MS population living in higher incidence areas.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
The impact of respiratory protective equipment on difficult airway management: a randomised, crossover, simulation study.
The current international COVID-19 health crisis underlines the importance of adequate and suitable personal protective equipment for clinical staff during acute airway management. This study compares the impacts of standard air-purifying respirators and powered air-purifying respirators during simulated difficult airway scenarios. Twenty-five anaesthetists carried out four different standardised difficult intubation drills, either unprotected (control), or wearing a standard or a powered respirator. ⋯ Videolaryngoscopy allowed the shortest intubation times regardless of the respiratory protective device used. Anaesthetists rated heat and vision significantly higher in the powered respirator group; however, noise levels were perceived to be significantly lower than in the standard respirator group. We conclude that standard and powered respirators do not significantly prolong simulated advanced intubation procedures.