Perioperative Care Provider's Considerations in Managing Patients with the COVID-19 Infections

Abstract

The COVID-19 (also named as 2019-nCoV) is a very contagious novel coronavirus. Though most patients contracted the 2019-nCoV will likely have mild symptoms with good prognosis, some will develop severe acute respiratory infection, pneumonia, or acute respiratory distress syndrome. Some of these patients will need anesthesia care for endotracheal intubation, critical care management and surgical services. Perioperative care services will face enormous challenges in managing these patients with the COVID-19. The challenges are how to protect perioperative care providers and how to avoid cross-infection by transmitting the COVID-19 to other individuals, in addition to managing their respiratory failure and other pathophysiological disturbances. In this article, we discussed the personal protective equipment and techniques of using them, and strategies to prevent or minimize the probability of cross-infection of the COVID-19 from infected patient to other individuals.