Infection

The imbalance between the demand for health care services and the capacity that is available may be the United States’ greatest weakness during this pandemic. Think about how much time is already spent in the ED, how long it takes to make an appointment with a health care provider and how long you spend in the waiting room once you actually go in for your appointment. The demand for medical services will only surge because of the pandemic.

The AAP issued guidance for physicians managing the care of newborns whose mothers are suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19, including a recommendation to temporarily separate

Published results showed removal of anchors or sutures, repeated revision surgery or antibiotic therapy beyond 6 weeks did not improve remission or reduce sequelae among patients with infected rotator cuff repairs.

The Mount Sinai Health System in New York is one of many systems in the U.S. that has been adapting in the attempt to care for the influx of patients with known or suspected COVID-19. As elective surgeries are no longer being performed, the cardiac ICU at this hospital has been converted into a unit strictly dedicated to the care of patients with COVID-19.

The American Gastroenterologists Association released COVID-19 recommendations for personal protective equipment use during gastrointestinal procedures, which were published in Gastroenterology.

A neonate born to a mother infected with SARS-CoV-2 at a hospital in Wuhan, China, had elevated levels of immunoglobuin M, or IgM, and immunoglobulin G, or IgG, antibodies and abnormal cytokine test results 2 hours after birth, suggesting that the newborn was infected in utero, researchers reported in JAMA.

Use of surgical jackets and bouffants during surgery may be neither beneficial nor cost-effective in preventing surgical site infections, according to published results.

I have always appreciated things naked to the eye. My mom, a plant geneticist, let me look at corn tissue under her microscope at a young age. She explained how each anatomical structure seen on the slide contributed to survival. Little did I know the lasting impact this would have on my career path. Pharmacy school exposed me to different pharmacy settings: acute care, ambulatory, chain, independent and home infusion. Hospital pharmacy stood out because of the strong collaboration between pharmacists and other health care team members. Early in my PGY-1 pharmacy practice residency, I saw the leadership and clinical expertise ID pharmacists lend to optimize antimicrobial therapy in patients across a health system. These same ID pharmacists, whom I still call mentors, fostered my curiosity during my PGY-2 ID residency through a broad array of antimicrobial stewardship, ID consultation, HIV, research and teaching experiences. Today, the teamwork needed to combat the evolving challenge of curing a patient with an infection while protecting others from unseen organisms, both new and old, provides continual excitement. Equally rewarding is experiencing the synergy of knowledge between myself and ID providers. I am proud to be an ID pharmacist!

Single arthroscopic irrigation and debridement effectively eradicated septic arthritis among most native shoulder joints, with volume of irrigation reported as an important factor to prevent additional surgical management, according to published results.

Physicians around the world are repurposing old drugs as potential therapies for critically ill patients with COVID-19, including the HIV combination therapy lopinavir-ritonavir and the antimalarial chloroquine. WHO announced this week that it will test some of these treatments in an international trial, and other studies are underway or have been announced. Results of a study published this week showed no benefit from lopinavir-ritonavir in hospitalized adults with severe COVID-19.