Personal protective equipment for ENT activity during COVID-19 pandemic
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HOW I DO IT
Personal protective equipment for ENT activity during COVID‑19 pandemic Paolo Farneti1 · Filippo Sorace1 · Ignazio Tasca1 Received: 16 June 2020 / Accepted: 26 June 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Background In the COVID-19 era physicians have to face with need to perform office procedures maintaining the maximum safety for both the patient and the Doctor himself. The purpose of this paper was to suggest some equipment useful to perform outpatient visits in an ENT setting. Methods A simple modification of the standard headlight used during an ENT visit provides the operator a better face protection without any impairment in vision and comfort. In addition, in order to perform a safer ENT examination, a droplet protective barrier has been adapted to the patient’s chair. Results Both the devices have been texted with success during a period of 2 months in our ENT clinic. No cases of contamination have been registered among physicians. Conclusion A simple modification to a device used in the routine ENT activity implemented its protective efficacy with low costs. On the other hand, a more structured tool permitted to obtain a more protected environment during patient examination. Keywords COVID-19 · SARS-COV-2 · Protective devices · Personal protective equipment · ENT endoscopy · Endoscopic nasopharyngoscopy · Headlight · risk of contamination · Examination chair The risk of getting a COVID-19 infection is very high among physicians. This is particularly true for those who deal with upper respiratory airway as otolaryngologists, maxillofacial, or dentists [1]. The need to protect both the doctors and the patients can cause serious discomfort during the visit due to the need to wear several personal protective equipment (PPE) which can impair the visibility and access to some anatomical areas. Oral and nasal cavity examinations are at high risk to produce droplets. Indirect visualization of the larynx with the mirror is even at higher risk of droplet contamination with the ENT directly facing the patients while breathing deeply. The use of rigid of flexible endoscopes could increment the distance between patient and physicians but does not eliminate the risk of Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-020-06177-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Paolo Farneti [email protected] 1
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Imola Hospital, Via Pancaldi 1 40138, Bologna, Italy
contamination. For this reason, some authors recommend the use of a backward approach [2] which anyway needs some training due to the unusual positioning of the patient. During the first phase of the Coronavirus pandemic most otolaryngologists had to face two problems: 1. To safely perform and ENT visit using a headlight for basic ENT examination 2. To perform nasal endoscopy and/or laryngoscopy without directly facing the patient. In the first case, the simultaneous use of bo
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