Infection control in the intensive care unit: expert consensus statements for SARS-CoV-2 using a Delphi method

Prashant Nasa, Elie Azoulay, Arunaloke Chakrabarti, Jigeeshu V. Divatia, Ravi Jain, Camilla Rodrigues, Victor D. Rosenthal, Waleed Alhazzani, Yaseen M. Arabi, Jan Bakker, Matteo Bassetti, Jan De Waele, George Dimopoulos, Bin Du, Sharon Einav, Laura Evans, Simon Finfer, Claude Guérin, Naomi E. Hammond, Samir JaberRuth M. Kleinpell, Younsuck Koh, Marin Kollef, Mitchell M. Levy, Flavia R. Machado, Jordi Mancebo, Ignacio Martin-Loeches, Mervyn Mer, Michael S. Niederman, Paolo Pelosi, Anders Perner, John V. Peter, Jason Phua, Lise Piquilloud, Mathias W. Pletz, Andrew Rhodes, Marcus J. Schultz, Mervyn Singer, Jéan François Timsit, Balasubramanian Venkatesh, Jean Louis Vincent, Tobias Welte, Sheila N. Myatra*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articleAcademicpeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

During the current COVID-19 pandemic, health-care workers and uninfected patients in intensive care units (ICUs) are at risk of being infected with SARS-CoV-2 as a result of transmission from infected patients and health-care workers. In the absence of high-quality evidence on the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, clinical practice of infection control and prevention in ICUs varies widely. Using a Delphi process, international experts in intensive care, infectious diseases, and infection control developed consensus statements on infection control for SARS-CoV-2 in an ICU. Consensus was achieved for 31 (94%) of 33 statements, from which 25 clinical practice statements were issued. These statements include guidance on ICU design and engineering, health-care worker safety, visiting policy, personal protective equipment, patients and procedures, disinfection, and sterilisation. Consensus was not reached on optimal return to work criteria for health-care workers who were infected with SARS-CoV-2 or the acceptable disinfection strategy for heat-sensitive instruments used for airway management of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Well designed studies are needed to assess the effects of these practice statements and address the remaining uncertainties.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)e74-e87
JournalThe Lancet Infectious Diseases
Volume22
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2022

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Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Elsevier Ltd

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