Preliminary Guidance on Minimising Risk of Transmission of Respiratory Virus in GP Practice [v3.0]
Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: There is evidence of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the community including residential care \nsettings. It is therefore essential that healthcare workers working in general practice are \nsupported to follow good infection prevention and control practice including appropriate \nuse of personal protective equipment (PPE). The risk of transmission of respiratory virus \nincluding COVID-19 is greatest when close to (within 1 to 2 m) a symptomatic patient and it \nis in this setting that PPE as part of overall good infection prevention and control practice \nprovides valuable protection to healthcare workers. At present any patient with clinical \nfeatures of viral respiratory tract infection must be treated as suspect COVID-19. It is \nimportant to note that atypical presentations occur therefore a cautious approach is \nappropriate with all patients with clinical features of systemic infection (fever, chills) \nparticularly if there is nothing to point to infection at a specific anatomical site. \nEssentially all items of PPE including surgical masks are intended as single patient use items. \nIt is best practice to dispose of a mask after each patient for whom a mask is required. \nExtended use of PPE for a series of patients is reasonable if seeing a series of suspect COVID- \n19 patients in succession and provided there are no toilet breaks or breaks for refreshment. \nIn all cases however gloves should be changed and hand hygiene performed between every \npatient. \nIt is important not to rely totally on PPE. Avoiding risk is a better approach than managing \nrisk with PPE. GPs should take all practical measures to assess and manage patients with \nsymptoms of infection remotely using telephone and other remote communication \nincluding consideration of using video links through mobile phones/tablet/computer where \npractical.
Authors: Health Protection Surveillance Centre, Cormican, Martin
Language: English
Subfield: Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7070738799