Endoscopy during the Covid-19 outbreak: experience and recommendations from a single center in a high-incidence scenario

Dig Liver Dis. 2020 Jun;52(6):606-612. doi: 10.1016/j.dld.2020.04.018. Epub 2020 Apr 27.

Abstract

A dramatic SARS-Cov-2 outbreak is hitting Italy hard. To face the new scenario all the hospitals have been re-organised in order to reduce all the outpatient services and to devote almost all their personnel and resources to the management of Covid-19 patients. As a matter of fact, all the services have undergone a deep re-organization guided by: the necessity to reduce exams, to create an environment that helps reduce the virus spread, and to preserve the medical personnel from infection. In these days a re-organization of the endoscopic unit, sited in a high-incidence area, has been adopted, with changes to logistics, work organization and patients selection. With the present manuscript, we want to support gastroenterologists and endoscopists in the organization of a "new" endoscopy unit that responds to the "new" scenario, while remaining fully aware that resources, availability and local circumstances may extremely vary from unit to unit.

Keywords: Coronavirus; Covid-19; Endoscopy; SARS-CoV-2.

MeSH terms

  • Betacoronavirus / isolation & purification
  • COVID-19
  • Coronavirus Infections* / epidemiology
  • Coronavirus Infections* / prevention & control
  • Disease Transmission, Infectious / prevention & control*
  • Endoscopy / methods*
  • Gastrointestinal Diseases* / diagnosis
  • Gastrointestinal Diseases* / epidemiology
  • Gastrointestinal Diseases* / surgery
  • Humans
  • Infection Control* / methods
  • Infection Control* / organization & administration
  • Italy / epidemiology
  • Organizational Innovation
  • Pandemics* / prevention & control
  • Patient Care Management* / organization & administration
  • Patient Care Management* / trends
  • Patient Selection
  • Pneumonia, Viral* / epidemiology
  • Pneumonia, Viral* / prevention & control
  • Risk Adjustment / methods
  • Risk Adjustment / organization & administration
  • SARS-CoV-2