Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2020 Aug 10;17(16):5785.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17165785.

An Integrated Strategy for the Prevention of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Healthcare Workers: A Prospective Observational Study

Anna Maria Cattelan  1 , Lolita Sasset  1 , Eugenia Di Meco  1 , Silvia Cocchio  2 , Francesco Barbaro  1 , Silvia Cavinato  1 , Samuele Gardin  1 , Giovanni Carretta  3 , Daniele Donato  3 , Andrea Crisanti  4   5 , Marco Trevenzoli  1 , Vincenzo Baldo  2
Affiliations
Observational Study

An Integrated Strategy for the Prevention of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Healthcare Workers: A Prospective Observational Study

Anna Maria Cattelan et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Since the beginning of SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, a large number of infections have been reported among healthcare workers (HCWs). The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among HCWs involved in the first management of infected patients and to describe the measures adopted to prevent the transmission in the hospital.

Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted between February 21 and April 16, 2020, in the Padua University Hospital (north-east Italy). The infection control policy adopted consisted of the following: the creation of the "Advanced Triage" area for the evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 cases, and the implementation of an integrated infection control surveillance system directed to all the healthcare personnel involved in the Advance Triage area. HCWs were regularly tested with nasopharyngeal swabs for SARS-CoV-2; body temperature and suggestive symptoms were evaluated at each duty. Demographic and clinical data of both patients and HCWs were collected and analyzed; HCWs' personal protective equipment (PPE) consumption was also recorded. The efficiency of the control strategy among HCWs was evaluated identifying symptomatic infection (primary endpoint) and asymptomatic infection (secondary endpoint) with confirmed detection of SARS-CoV-2.

Results: 7595 patients were evaluated in the Advanced Triage area: 5.2% resulted positive and 72.4% was symptomatic. The HCW team was composed of 60 members. A total of 361 nasopharyngeal swabs were performed on HCWs. All the swabs resulted negative and none of the HCWs reached the primary or the secondary endpoint.

Conclusions: An integrated hospital infection control strategy, consisting of dedicated areas for infected patients, strict measures for PPE use and mass surveillance, is successful to prevent infection among HCWs.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; health care workers; infection control; novel coronavirus; personal protective equipment; respiratory protective device.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The Advanced Triage of the Infectious Diseases Unit, Padua University Hospital. (Reproduced with permission from Azienda Ospedale Università di Padova).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Number of subjects tested and percentage of subjects who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and attended the Advanced Triage Unit according to age group.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Number of performed nasopharyngeal swabs and percentage of SARS-CoV-2-positive tests according to weeks.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Linear regression analysis between the total positive nasopharyngeal swabs and the number of swabs performed on healthcare workers (HCWs). Each point represents a day of the period study.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Spiteri G., Fielding J., Diercke M., Campese C., Enouf V., Gaymard A., Bella A., Sognamiglio P., Sierra Moros M.J., Riutort A.N., et al. First cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the WHO European Region, 24 January to 21 February 2020. Eurosurveillance. 2020;25:1–5. doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.9.2000178. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control Outbreak of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19): Situation in Italy–23 February 2020. [(accessed on 5 August 2020)];ECDC. 2020 Available online: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/video-ecdc-statement-sit....
    1. Civil Protection Department-Coronavirus Emergency Press Releases. [(accessed on 20 May 2020)]; Available online: http://www.protezionecivile.gov.it/riskactivities/health-risk/emergencie....
    1. Ministero della Salute COVID-19 Situazione in Italia. Report 18–24 maggio. [(accessed on 20 May 2020)]; Available online: http://www.salute.gov.it/portale/nuovocoronavirus/dettaglioContenutiNuov....
    1. Wu Z., McGoogan J.M. Characteristics of and Important Lessons From the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID- 19) Outbreak in China: Summary of a report of 72 314 cases from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. JAMA. 2020;323:1239–1242. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.2648. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms