A significant lesson learned from the current COVID-19 pandemic is that both complications of the disease and evolving treatments are being identified at a rapid pace and that these updated treatments have had a significant impact on outcomes, especially survivability. We found that this information is flowing in from a number of both credible and noncredible sources. Credible sources that were identified and in use include: Centers for Disease Control (CDC), European CDC, World Health Organization (WHO), National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Royal College of Medicine. Vetted up-to-date best practices must get into the hands of healthcare providers. Protocols must be updated accurately as the science evolves and that valid protocol/workflow changes must be implemented quickly and effectively.
Ideas:
Assign a point person from the institution to vet information sources.
- Focus broadly to include other pathogens. Example: guidance should be in place for viral hemorrhagic fevers. This may include reviewing, updating and adapting existing national and state Ebola response plans (CDC-supported) to reflect lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Use widely accepted, scientifically credible sources such as:
- Centers for Disease Control (CDC) https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/
- European CDC https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/covid-19-pandemic
- Work Health Organization (WHO) https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/a-guide-to-who-s-guidance
- National Institutes of Health (NIH) https://www.covid19treatmentguidelines.nih.gov/
- Use well accepted update services that draw from scientifically credible sources such as:
- UpToDate uptodate.com
- STAT News https://www.statnews.com/
- Consider “media monitoring” (taking daily news and reducing to a headline, three or four sentence excerpts). This reduces time demands and aids in getting key messages delivered quickly. This can be done manually or through available media monitoring services.
- Use technology to rapidly disseminate new treatments and protocols such as using:
- Slack – https://slack.com/
- Microsoft Teams – https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/group-chat-software/
- SMS or app-based messaging that can employees can opt into
- Emergency communications applications that can broadcast messages and notifications to small pop-ups on desktop computers, and mobile devices, such as SnappComm and similar products.