Communicable diseases tend to spread to other people if not dealt with appropriately, and with airborne infections like Covid-19 the risk exponentially increases. Front line staff is generally consisting of emergency department, anesthesia and intensive care staff but the exposure is extended to those people also who don’t do direct patients care, yet are still considered front line staff. These include the security staff, receptionists, transporters and housekeeping besides the doctors and nurses. Although their exposure is not prolonged, still it has the potential to lead to spread of infections.
With the vaccine available for the entire staff, the task seems to have gotten easier. After mass vaccination the spread of infection will decrease and the frontline staff will have one less thing to worry about dealing with patients coming to the hospital. Although the future seems like better than the present situation yet the prospects of either mutated strain or another infection agent makes all people working as frontline worry about continuous threat of ongoing pandemic. Infectious diseases and health officials do predict a model that the world has to live with the covid-19 for quite some time and the ways to deal with the situation include vaccination beside masks and hand washing and social distancing.
A coordinated system of working is needed among frontline staff, so that the care providers can protect each other and also the patients. The best defense against known as well as unknown infecting agents is vigilance. A whole new level of understanding regarding dealing with communicable disease is needed. We need to realize that perhaps the healthcare at the level of emergency departments has changed for good. Now in order to keep everyone safe, we have to create ways adopt and also the strategies to stay ahead.
The best mode of protection for everyone is vigilance and then keeping patients isolated from each other or exposed and unexposed patients kept segregated. But we are also aware that at times the suspicion regarding COVID-19 or other communicable diseases may arise long after patient have been seen by various emergency staff, so the questions come in mind how to protect the staff and the patient. One way is to keep everyone separate in separate cubicles or rooms, so that the exposure could be limited and cross patient contamination will not become an issue. The second strategy would be to create the culture of safety and limit number of staff involved in the care of individual patients, as well as improve the practices of infection control. At the same time exercise caution to limit the cross-exposure by staff.
We have turned a significant corner in health care delivery and now we all need to work together for safety. Let us be proactive and still do the best that is needed from all of us. Limiting the propagation of COVID-19 or any other illness by good infection control practices and safety culture is our best strategy.