Premium
COVID ‐19 Obstetrics Task Force, Lombardy, Italy: Executive management summary and short report of outcome
Author(s) -
Ferrazzi Enrico M.,
Frigerio Luigi,
Cetin Irene,
Vergani Patrizia,
Spinillo Arsenio,
Prefumo Federico,
Pellegrini Edda,
Gargantini Gianluigi
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of gynecology and obstetrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.895
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1879-3479
pISSN - 0020-7292
DOI - 10.1002/ijgo.13162
Subject(s) - medicine , triage , personal protective equipment , interim , medical emergency , task force , obstetrics and gynaecology , covid-19 , pregnancy , emergency medicine , disease , genetics , biology , political science , infectious disease (medical specialty) , history , archaeology , public administration , pathology
From February 24, 2020, a COVID ‐19 obstetric task force was structured to deliver management recommendations for obstetric care. From March 1, 2020, six COVID ‐19 hubs and their spokes were designated. An interim analysis of cases occurring in or transferred to these hubs was performed on March 20, 2020 and recommendations were released on March 24, 2020. The vision of this strict organization was to centralize patients in high‐risk maternity centers in order to concentrate human resources and personal protective equipment ( PPE ), dedicate protected areas of these major hospitals, and centralize clinical multidisciplinary experience with this disease. All maternity hospitals were informed to provide a protected labor and delivery room for nontransferable patients in advanced labor. A pre‐triage based on temperature and 14 other items was developed in order to screen suspected patients in all hospitals to be tested with nasopharyngeal swabs. Obstetric outpatient facilities were instructed to maintain scheduled pregnancy screening as per Italian guidelines, and to provide pre‐triage screening and surgical masks for personnel and patients for pre‐triage‐negative patients. Forty‐two cases were recorded in the first 20 days of hub and spoke organization. The clinical presentation was interstitial pneumonia in 20 women. Of these, seven required respiratory support and eventually recovered. Two premature labors occurred.