Abstract
Background and aim: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has seen the cancellation of elective cardiac surgeries worldwide. Here we report the experience of a cardiac surgery unit in a developing country in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
Methods: From 6th April to 12th June 2020, 58 patients underwent urgent or emergency cardiac surgery. Data was reviewed from a prospectively entered unit-maintained cardiac surgery database. To ensure safe delivery of care to patients, a series of strict measures were implemented which included: a parallel healthcare system maintaining a COVID-19 cold site, social isolation of patients for one to 2 weeks before surgery, polymerase chain reaction testing for COVID-19, 72 hours before surgery, discrete staff assigned only to cardiac surgical cases socially isolated for 2 weeks as necessary.
Methods: From 6th April to 12th June 2020, 58 patients underwent urgent or emergency cardiac surgery. Data was reviewed from a prospectively entered unit-maintained cardiac surgery database. To ensure safe delivery of care to patients, a series of strict measures were implemented which included: a parallel healthcare system maintaining a COVID-19 cold site, social isolation of patients for one to 2 weeks before surgery, polymerase chain reaction testing for COVID-19, 72 hours before surgery, discrete staff assigned only to cardiac surgical cases socially isolated for 2 weeks as necessary.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Journal of Cardiac Surgery |
| Early online date | 26 Jul 2020 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 26 Jul 2020 |
Bibliographical note
provisional acceptance date added, based on publication information.Structured keywords
- Bristol Heart Institute
- Covid19
Keywords
- adult cardiac surgery
- COVID‐19
- developing country
- Trinidad & Tobago