Management strategy of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pneumonia in the radiology department: a Chinese experience
Peng An, Yingjian Ye, Min Chen, Yuting Chen, Wufeng Fan, Yong Wang
Abstract
ince December 2019, the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been spreading fiercely in Wuhan and has spread to the whole world, causing a health and economic disaster to the people of the world. COVID-19 has been included in class B infectious diseases stipulated in the law of the People's Republic of China on the prevention and control of infectious diseases, but the prevention and control measures for class A infectious diseases have been taken (1, 2). In case of the COVID-19 outbreak, a large number of patients with infection or suspected infection swarm into the hospital, the examination workload of the radiology department increases sharply, the labor intensity of the staff becomes higher, and the manpower becomes tense, because the transmission route of SARS-CoV-2 is through respiratory droplets and close contact transmission. There is also possibility of aerosol transmission when exposed to high concentration aerosol for a long time in a relatively closed environment According to the latest report, the infection rate among people in the hospital is about 41%, of which 29% is hospital staff and 12.3% inpatients (5). The risk of infection is extremely serious. Therefore, it is very important to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19 in the radiology departments, and it is necessary to determine practical, efficient and feasible prevention and control measures (6). In this short communication article, we provide a general overview of the prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic in the radiology department based on our own experience in Xiangyang First People's Hospital Affiliated to Hubei University of Medicine. We aim to give a detailed overview including the aspects of CT acquisition process, protection level, equipment management, environmental zoning and disinfection, and psychological counseling measures. It should be noted that the main goal of reasonable control in every link of radiology department is to complete the radiology examination safely and diagnose COVID-1 pneumonia patients with high efficiency and quality.