Prevention of COVID-19 in Thoracic Surgery Patients: Lessons Learned during the First Pandemic Wave.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate the implementation of measures to prevent perioperative COVID-19 in thoracic surgery during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic 2020 allowing a continued surgical treatment of patients. METHODS: The implemented preventive measures in patient management of the thoracic surgery department of the Asklepios Lung Clinic Munich-Gauting, Germany were retrospectively analyzed. Postoperative COVID-19 incidence before and after implementation of preventive measures was investigated. Patients admitted for thoracic surgical procedures between March and May 2020 were included in the study. Patient characteristics were analyzed. For the early detection of putative postoperative COVID-19 symptoms, typical post-discharge symptomatology of thoracic surgery patients was compared to non-surgical patients hospitalized for COVID-19. RESULTS: Thirty-five surgical procedures and fifty-seven surgical procedures were performed before and after implementation of the preventive measures, respectively. Three patients undergoing thoracic surgery before implementation of preventive measures developed a COVID-19 pneumonia post-discharge. After implementation of preventive measures, no postoperative COVID-19 cases were identified. Fever, dyspnea, dry cough and diarrhea were significantly more prevalent in COVID-19 patients compared to normally recovering thoracic surgery patients, while anosmia, phlegm, low energy levels, body ache and nausea were similarly frequent in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the lessons learned during the first pandemic wave, we here provide a blueprint for successful easily implementable preventive measures minimizing SARS-CoV-2 transmission to thoracic surgery patients perioperatively. While symptoms of COVID-19 and the normal postoperative course of thoracic surgery patients substantially overlap, we found dyspnea, fever, cough, and diarrhea significantly more prevalent in COVID-19 patients than in normally recovering thoracic surgery patients. These symptoms should trigger further diagnostic testing for postoperative COVID-19 in thoracic surgery patients.

[Overview of the Organization of the Emergency Medical Service in Germany: What is the Basis for the Hospital Restructuring Act and the Supply Enhancement Act?] / Übersicht über die Organisation des vertragsärztlichen Bereitschaftsdienstes in Deutschland: Auf welche Basis bauen Krankenhausstrukturgesetz und Versorgungsstärkungsgesetz auf?

In response to the increased use of emergency rooms, the increasing cost pressure on hospitals and the growing difficulty of filling emergency services in structurally weaker areas, the introduction of central practices (Portalpraxen) has been decided at federal level. Several Associations of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (Kassenärztliche Vereinigungen (KVen)) have already started to transform the medical on-call service before this legislative change and are now at different stages of the reform process. At many hospitals there are already so-called standby duty clinics (BDP). For the assessment of the current reform status as the basis for the Hospital Structure Act and the Nursing Reform Act, the present study aims to provide an overview of the organizational forms of the on-call medical service in the respective districts of the Associations of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. METHODS: All 17 KV districts were contacted by telephone and/or in writing in order to conduct a semi-structured interview along 3 dimensions: the general organizational structure, the personnel (above all physicians) and the supply mandate. KV Brandenburg, KV Hamburg and KV Nordrhein (subsidiary Gesundheitsmanagementgesellschaft mbH) completed the questionnaire. RESULTS: In the districts of Hesse, Schleswig-Holstein, Thuringia and Westphalia-Lippe, at the time of the 2017 survey, the out-of-hour service was exclusively organised in emergency service practices. Baden-Wuerttemberg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland have extensively introduced emergency service practices. However, the traditional service remains present in some regions. There are huge organisational differences between metropolitan and rural areas reflecting various challenges: Bavaria, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania only established emergency service practices in major cities due to economic considerations. CONCLUSION: Emergency service practices provide a way to address the challenges of physician shortage and patient control. With their flexibility regarding the organization, they are adaptable to regional differences and are already playing a major role in assuring out-of-hour medical service in Germany.