OR Manager - September 2020 - 28

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At a Glance
Joint Commission updates blood
management program
The Joint Commission on August 5 announced
that it has approved new and
revised requirements for hospitals and
critical access hospitals certified under
the Patient Blood Management program
that will go into effect January 1, 2021.
The certification requirements address:
* patient blood management for pediatric,
obstetric, and single transfusion
patients
* informed consent for patients who
decline blood transfusion
* strategies to manage blood loss and
treat anemia in specialties associated
with high blood use.
The voluntary certification is designed
to reduce costs and the need
for allogeneic blood transfusions, as
well as to ensure blood components are
available for those who need them, the
Joint Commission says.
-https://www.jointcommission.org/
resources/news-and-multimedia/newsletters/newsletters/joint-commission-online/aug-5-2020/effective-jan-1-2021-updates-to-patient-blood-managementcertification-program/
Study
pinpoints COVID-19 risk
factors
Even with adequate personal protective
equipment (PPE), frontline healthcare
workers had a threefold increased risk
of testing positive for COVID-19, compared
to the general population, and
those with inadequate PPE had a further
increase in risk, this study finds.
The study also reveals that the risk
of testing positive increased to at least
fivefold among Black, Asian, and minority
ethnic healthcare workers.
Researchers from the Massachusetts
General Hospital and Harvard
Medical School, Boston, and King's
College London analyzed data from
2,035,395 community individuals and
99,795 frontline healthcare workers in
the US and UK.
The prevalence of COVID-19 was
2,747 cases per 100,000 frontline
healthcare workers, compared with 242
cases per 100,000 individuals in the
general population.
More than 20% of frontline healthcare
workers reported at least one
symptom associated with COVID-19 infection
compared with 14.4% of the
general population. Fatigue, loss of
smell or taste, and hoarse voice were
especially frequent.
The findings show the importance of
PPE, including the appropriate PPE quality,
correct application and removal of
PPE, and the need to avoid reuse, the
researchers say.
-https://www.thelancet.
com/journals/lanpub/article/
PIIS2468-2667(20)30164-X/fulltext
Automated monitoring tool
facilitates contact tracing for
COVID-19 patients
The use of an automated web-based
symptom monitoring tool as part of
Maine's COVID-19 contact tracing program
made the state's contact tracing
and monitoring faster and more efficient.
Most
monitored contacts (96.4%)
agreed to use of the automated system.
Contacts automatically received daily
symptom questionnaires through a varety
of means-their choice of e-mailed
weblink, test message, texted weblink,
or telephone call-until they completed
their quarantine periods.
The system promptly identified
COVID-19 in the monitored contacts,
with 190 (11.7%) of 1,622 developing
COVID-19.
Contacts who refused automated
monitoring or could not be enrolled because
of language barriers were monitored
using direct monitoring by the contact
tracing team.
Automated monitoring tools can augment
traditional contact tracing, but
they can't take the place of a large,
trained public health workforce needed
for a COVID-19 response, the authors
say.
-https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/
volumes/69/wr/mm6931e2.htm?s_
cid=mm6931e2_w
28
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OR Manager - September 2020

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