Saudi Critical Care Journal

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Background and Aims: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in a large number of healthcare workers (HCW) getting infected, making it difficult to sustain uninterrupted and quality healthcare services. Using a mask is the minimum standard of care to prevent the spread of infection. Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) has added airborne spread as an important mode of spread of COVID-19. The aim of this survey study was to assess the awareness about the use and reuse of masks for infection control practices among HCWs during the ongoing pandemic. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire-based survey on the awareness, knowledge, and practices related to the use of masks in COVID-19 infection in the healthcare setting was circulated through E-mail to medical and paramedical staff. A convenient sampling method was used for data collection, and the distribution of responses was presented as frequencies and percentages. Descriptive statistics were performed for all groups and subgroups based on the responses. Results: The survey sent to 1000 HCWs but only 394 responses (response rate 39.4%) were obtained. N95 was used by 282 (71.57%) personnel, surgical mask in 99 (25.12%) workers, cloth mask 11 (2.79%), and no mask in 2 (0.05%) HCW. Two hundred and eighty (71.07%) HCWs were reusing the mask. However, only 150 out of 280 subjects (53.57%) were correctly reusing the mask. Conclusion: Although universal masking was present in our study population, the awareness about the correct practice of reuse was limited. Since the pandemic is not going to settle any time soon and we might get short on existing supplies, it is vital that the HCWs need to be trained for the correct reuse and more efficient ways of reuse need to be explored.

Introduction: Chest pain is a frequent cause for admission to the emergency department (ED). It can be a sign of various conditions, from a minor disorder to a life-threatening disease such as acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Despite the availability of modern-day tools for the diagnosis of AMI, about 5% of patients with AMI are missed in the ED, with subsequent associated morbidity and mortality. QT dispersion as a marker for arrhythmic potential being a marker of in-homogeneity of ventricular repolarization. The QT dispersion is increased in myocardial ischemia. Aims: This study we hypothesized that QTD could accurately identify patients with the acute coronary syndrome (ACS) who presented with chest pain and nondiagnostic initial electrocardiograms (ECGs). Subjects and Methods: The study population included (50) patients (37 males, 13 females) and (10) chronic stable ischemic patients as a control group, they were all in sinus rhythm on admission. All the studied patients were subjected to: History taking; complete physical examination was performed to rule out any other medical problems, standard 12-lead ECG, cardiac markers, echocardiographic examination. QT interval was calculated. The difference between the maximum and minimum QT intervals, occurring in any of the 12 leads, was measured as QTD. A corrected QT interval (QTc) of >440 ms is defined as abnormal, and the difference between QTc max and QTc min was calculated as QTcD. QT dispersion ≤40 ms was considered normal. Results: In the present study, we found that 26 patients (52%) have prolonged QTD (mean 78.800 ms, standard deviation [SD] ±49.555) and 44 patients (88%) have prolonged cQTD (mean 83.322 ms, SD ± 48.491) For patients who were admitted to the ED with chest pain and nondiagnostic initial ECG but later diagnosed as having ACS. Furthermore, we found that only 6 (12%) of patients have a significant prolongation QTD than normal in initial nondiagnostic ECG with elevated cardiac biomarkers (creatine kinase myocardial band at 0 h 48, mean creatine kinase myocardial band (CK MP) at 12 h was 145.833 ± SD 52.660, creatine phosphokinase (CPK) at 0 h: 635.33, mean CPK at 12 h 2448.66 ± SD 538.744). It has been suggested that the initial QTD level has a low predictive power for new cardiac events but that QTD can be more helpful for low-risk patients. Conclusion: Hence, in this study, we found that QTD and QTcD values are higher for ACS patients than for patients without ACS with nondiagnostic initial ECG.

Online since 15^th Dec, 2016