Operation of ultrasonography services in a dedicated paediatric hospital and a university hospital in Greece under the C
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Operation of ultrasonography services in a dedicated paediatric hospital and a university hospital in Greece under the COVID-19 pandemic Maria Raissaki 1 & Marina Vakaki 2 & Alexandros Kotziamanis 3 & Efthymia Alexopoulou 4 & Chrisoula Koumanidou 2 & Apostolos Karantanas 1 Received: 30 March 2020 / Revised: 27 April 2020 / Accepted: 18 May 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Ultrasonography (US) is one of the most common diagnostic imaging tests in children. During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) pandemic, it is important to operate with a plan designed to protect health care workers, to prevent transmission of infection from child and parents to another child or an accompanying person in the US suite, and to save valuable protective material and resources. Measures during routine US in children can be challenging both in general hospitals with paediatric units and in dedicated paediatric hospitals. Special considerations include: a) cancellation or rescheduling of unnecessary imaging tests, b) a relevant questionnaire on the request form informing about patient and accompanying person’s symptoms and likely exposure in addition to general triage, c) appropriate patient and parent protective measures, d) recruitment and selection of US machines in different protected areas depending on the possibility or certainty for the infection, e) regular personnel protective measures and personal hand hygiene, f) routine disinfection of probes and adjacent surfaces and g) machine/room deep disinfection, if required. Our purpose is to present the modified US services in children during the COVID-19 pandemic in two hospitals based on the instructions of the national organization of public health in Greece and what is known about the mode of transmission of the virus. Keywords Children . Coronavirus . COVID-19 . Infection control . Safety . Ultrasonography
Introduction The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic presented in Wuhan, China, and has so far affected more than 4 million people worldwide (May 9, 2020), with a mortality range of almost 7% [1]. Interestingly, the majority of people infected
* Maria Raissaki [email protected] 1
Department of Radiology, University Hospital and Medical School, University of Crete, Stavrakia Voutes, 71110 Crete, Greece
2
Paediatric Radiology Department, “P&A.Kyriakou” Children’s Hospital, Athens, Greece
3
Department of Radiology, University Hospital of Heraklion, Crete, Greece
4
Department of Radiology, General University Hospital Attikon, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) have mild disease that does not require hospitalization [2]. COVID-19 appears to be transmitted humanto-human via droplets, i.e. when a person coughs, sneezes or talks loudly, or via direct contact, i.e. contact of a contaminated hand with the mouth, nose or eye conjunctiva [3]. Infection has been estimated to have an incubation period of 2–14 da
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