tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Clin Infect Dis. 2020 Apr 21. pii: ciaa468. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa468. [Epub ahead of print]
Responding to the COVID-19 outbreak in Singapore: Staff Protection and Staff Temperature and Sickness Surveillance Systems.
Htun HL[SUP]1[/SUP], Lim DW[SUP]1,[/SUP][SUP]2[/SUP], Kyaw WM[SUP]1[/SUP], Loh WJ[SUP]1[/SUP], Lee LT[SUP]2[/SUP], Ang B[SUP]3[/SUP], Chow A[SUP]1[/SUP].
Author information
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging infectious disease caused by novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), and first reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Since the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003, Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) in Singapore has routinely fit-tested staff for high filtration N95 respirators, and established web-based staff surveillance systems. The routine systems were enhanced in response to Singapore's first imported COVID-19 case on January 23,2020.
METHODS:
We conducted a cross-sectional study, from January 23,2020 to February 23,2020, among healthcare workers to evaluate the effectiveness of the staff protection and surveillance strategy in TTSH, a 1600-bed multidisciplinary acute-care hospital co-located with the 330-bed National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID). As of February 23,2020, TTSH/NCID has managed 76% of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Singapore. The hospital adopted a multi-pronged approach to protect and monitor staff with potential COVID-19 exposures
1) Risk-based personal protective equipment, (2) Staff fever and sickness surveillance, and (3) Enhanced medical surveillance of unwell staff.
RESULTS:
A total of 10,583 staff were placed on hospital-wide fever and sickness surveillance, with 1,524 frontline staff working in COVID-19 areas under close surveillance. Among frontline staff, a median of eight staff illness episodes was seen per day, and almost 10% (n=29) resulted in hospitalization. None of the staff was found to be infected with COVID-19.
CONCLUSIONS:
A robust staff protection and health surveillance system that is routinely implemented during non-outbreak periods and enhanced during the COVID-19 outbreak is effective in protecting frontline staff from the infection.
? The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
KEYWORDS:
COVID-19; healthcare workers; novel coronavirus; surveillance
PMID:32315026DOI:10.1093/cid/ciaa468
Responding to the COVID-19 outbreak in Singapore: Staff Protection and Staff Temperature and Sickness Surveillance Systems.
Htun HL[SUP]1[/SUP], Lim DW[SUP]1,[/SUP][SUP]2[/SUP], Kyaw WM[SUP]1[/SUP], Loh WJ[SUP]1[/SUP], Lee LT[SUP]2[/SUP], Ang B[SUP]3[/SUP], Chow A[SUP]1[/SUP].
Author information
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging infectious disease caused by novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), and first reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Since the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003, Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) in Singapore has routinely fit-tested staff for high filtration N95 respirators, and established web-based staff surveillance systems. The routine systems were enhanced in response to Singapore's first imported COVID-19 case on January 23,2020.
METHODS:
We conducted a cross-sectional study, from January 23,2020 to February 23,2020, among healthcare workers to evaluate the effectiveness of the staff protection and surveillance strategy in TTSH, a 1600-bed multidisciplinary acute-care hospital co-located with the 330-bed National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID). As of February 23,2020, TTSH/NCID has managed 76% of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Singapore. The hospital adopted a multi-pronged approach to protect and monitor staff with potential COVID-19 exposures
1) Risk-based personal protective equipment, (2) Staff fever and sickness surveillance, and (3) Enhanced medical surveillance of unwell staff.RESULTS:
A total of 10,583 staff were placed on hospital-wide fever and sickness surveillance, with 1,524 frontline staff working in COVID-19 areas under close surveillance. Among frontline staff, a median of eight staff illness episodes was seen per day, and almost 10% (n=29) resulted in hospitalization. None of the staff was found to be infected with COVID-19.
CONCLUSIONS:
A robust staff protection and health surveillance system that is routinely implemented during non-outbreak periods and enhanced during the COVID-19 outbreak is effective in protecting frontline staff from the infection.
? The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
KEYWORDS:
COVID-19; healthcare workers; novel coronavirus; surveillance
PMID:32315026DOI:10.1093/cid/ciaa468