Anesthesiology specialists on the front lines of treating surgical patients with COVID-19

A new study examined the knowledge and attitudes of anesthesiologists regarding the strategies used to treat suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients needing to be operated on or cared for after surgery in an intensive care unit. The majority of the anesthesiology specialists and residents expressed the correct attitudes toward airway management, according to the study published in Surgical Infections, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

The study evaluated anesthesiology specialists and residents at various health institutions in Turkey and was coauthored by Burhan Dost and colleagues from the Faculty of Medicine, Ondokuz Mayis University, Samsun, Turkey. The provision of theoretical and practical training can help ensure the safety of both patients and healthcare workers and prevent panic. The authors recommended that anesthesiologists who perform emergency operations on COVID-19 patients outside the intensive care units should follow easy-to-understand algorithms to ensure safety.

This article underscores that surgeons and anesthesiologists must adopt new behavior patterns in the management of surgical and intensive care unit patients with ventilation support measures to avoid the transmission of infection to other patients and to the healthcare staff."

Donald E. Fry, MD, Surgical Infections Editor-in-Chief, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL