Tag: pandemics
How protein-based COVID vaccines could change the pandemic
Unlike the relatively new technologies that the mRNA and viral-vector COVID-19 shots are based on, protein vaccines have been used for decades to protect people from hepatitis, shingles and other viral infections. To... read more
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Not all COVID waves look the same. Here’s a snapshot of the Delta surge
Waves of Covid can give you an awful sense of déjà vu. As "Hot Vax Summer" gave way early to Delta-anxious fall, you could be forgiven for feeling a familiar sense of dread, not so different from what you’d felt before... read more
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COVID-19: Restricted Visitation Policies in Acute Care Settings
Patients, families, and healthcare professionals were impacted by restricted visitation polices in acute care settings during COVID-19. The consequences of this approach on patients and families are understudied and warrant... read more
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COVID-19 Handbook: Navigating the Future of Healthcare
The COVID-19 Handbook: Navigating the Future of Healthcare provides factual, evidence-based information on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Presented in a concise PDF format, this valuable COVID-19 resource... read more
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COVID-19, Online Shaming, and Health-care Professionals
Stigma and shame have been features of past pandemics. The stigma associated with disease can be experienced as shame by those who spread it. In almost all human cultures, there is shame attached to being “contaminated”,... read more
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Reducing the Global Sepsis Burden: A Positive Legacy for the COVID-19 Pandemic?
ESICM, SCCM, and the GSA published a consensus paper in Intensive Care Medicine, emphasising the importance of recognising that patients critically ill with COVID-19 have viral sepsis, despite some differences from sepsis... read more
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Health Systems Successfully Leverage Tele-ICU During Pandemic and Intend to Continue
Help during the pandemic for overwhelmed, overworked intensive care unit (ICU) nurses at some health systems came in the form of experienced tele-ICU nurses working remotely to support on-site colleagues as they cared for... read more
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Why and How to Open ICU to Family Visits During the Pandemic
Since the lockdown because of the pandemic, family members have been prohibited from visiting their loved ones in hospital. While it is clearly complicated to implement protocols for the admission of family members, we believe... read more
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COVID-19 Pathophysiology: Looking Beyond Acute Disease
Careful descriptions of the clinical features of acute disease in patients infected with the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 had begun to emerge before WHO declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a public health emergency of international... read more
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A Dedicated VV-ECMO Unit during a Respiratory Pandemic
Background: The most critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may require advanced support modalities, such as veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO). A systematic, methodical approach... read more
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Undercover Epicenter Nurse: How Fraud, Negligence, and Greed Led to Unnecessary Deaths at Elmhurst Hospital
What would you do if you discovered that the media and the government were lying to us all? And that hundreds, maybe thousands of people were dying because of it? Army combat veteran and registered nurse Erin Olszewski’s... read more
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Use of Procalcitonin During the First Wave of COVID-19
A minority of patients presenting to hospital with COVID-19 have bacterial co-infection. Procalcitonin testing may help identify patients for whom antibiotics should be prescribed or withheld. This study describes the... read more
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Practice Recommendations on Neuraxial Anesthesia and Peripheral Nerve Blocks during the COVID-19 Pandemic
General anesthesia (GA) with airway intervention leads to aerosol generation, which exposes the health care team to risk of transmission of COVID-19 both during intubation and extubation. The odds of transmission of acute... read more
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A Systematic Review of Indoor Air Sampling for COVID-19 Detection
In a post-pandemic scenario, indoor air monitoring may be required seeking to safeguard public health, and therefore well-defined methods, protocols, and equipment play an important role. Considering the COVID-19 pandemic,... read more
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Duty of Care: One NHS Doctor’s Story of Courage and Compassion on the COVID-19 Frontline
The first book to tell the full story of the Covid-19 pandemic, from an NHS doctor working inside hospitals to save lives and combat the virus on the front line. Duty of Care is the first book to tell the full story of... read more
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The Plague Cycle: The Unending War Between Humanity and Infectious Disease
For four thousand years, the size and vitality of cities, economies, and empires were heavily determined by infection. Striking humanity in waves, the cycle of plagues set the tempo of civilizational growth and decline, since... read more
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The Rules of Contagion: Why Things Spread – And Why They Stop
From ideas and infections to financial crises and fake news, an "utterly timely" look at why the science of outbreaks is the science of modern life These days, whenever anything spreads, whether it's a YouTube fad or a... read more
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Let’s stop the blame game over the ICU beds shortage for COVID-19 patients
The situation in UK intensive care units (ICUs) is grave. Across the UK, units are under immense pressure and are as busy or busier than they were in the first wave. All plans enacted over the summer to provide support for... read more
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RAPID UPDATE: Clinical Guide for the Management of Critical Care for Adults with COVID-19
This RAPID UPDATE to the FICM/ICS "Clinical guide for the management of critical care for adults with COVID-19 during the Coronavirus pandemic" highlights five clinically urgent issues for practising clinicians caring for... read more
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ECMO for COVID-19 patients in Europe and Israel
As of October 17th the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) caused a pandemic disease (coronavirus disease 2019, COVID-19) 40 million people worldwide, with almost one million deaths. Although most patients have an uncomplicated... read more
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FDA Warns Against Cutting the COVID-19 Vaccine Dosing in Half
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning health care workers that any changes to the authorized dosing schedules of COVID-19 vaccines currently being administered would significantly place public health at risk and... read more
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