During the current COVID-19 pandemic, health-care workers and uninfected patients in intensive care units (ICUs) are at risk of being infected with SARS-CoV-2 as a result of transmission from infected patients and health-care workers. In the absence of high-quality evidence on the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, clinical practice of infection control and prevention in ICUs varies widely. Using a Delphi process, international experts in intensive care, infectious diseases, and infection control developed consensus statements on infection control for SARS-CoV-2 in an ICU. Consensus was achieved for 31 (94%) of 33 statements, from which 25 clinical practice statements were issued. These statements include guidance on ICU design and engineering, health-care worker safety, visiting policy, personal protective equipment, patients and procedures, disinfection, and sterilisation. Consensus was not reached on optimal return to work criteria for health-care workers who were infected with SARS-CoV-2 or the acceptable disinfection strategy for heat-sensitive instruments used for airway management of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Well designed studies are needed to assess the effects of these practice statements and address the remaining uncertainties.
- Nasa, P.
- Azoulay, E.
- Chakrabarti, A.
- Divatia, J. V.
- Jain, R.
- Rodrigues, C.
- Rosenthal, V. D.
- Alhazzani, W.
- Arabi, Y. M.
- Bakker, J.
- Bassetti, M.
- De Waele, J.
- Dimopoulos, G.
- Du, B.
- Einav, S.
- Evans, L.
- Finfer, S.
- Guérin, C.
- Hammond, N. E.
- Jaber, S.
- Kleinpell, R. M.
- Koh, Y.
- Kollef, M.
- Levy, M. M.
- Machado, F. R.
- Mancebo, J.
- Martin-Loeches, I.
- Mer, M.
- Niederman, M. S.
- Pelosi, P.
- Perner, A.
- Peter, J. V.
- Phua, J.
- Piquilloud, L.
- Pletz, M. W.
- Rhodes, A.
- Schultz, M. J.
- Singer, M.
- Timsit, J. F.
- Venkatesh, B.
- Vincent, J. L.
- Welte, T.
- Myatra, S. N.
Keywords
- *covid-19
- COVID-19 Vaccines/administration & dosage
- *Consensus
- Delphi Technique
- Health Personnel/standards
- Humans
- Infection Control/*standards
- Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional/*prevention & control
- Intensive Care Units/*standards
- Personal Protective Equipment/standards
- SARS-CoV-2/*isolation & purification