Editor's Note Safe Flight Instrument Corporation (White Plains, New York), a company that develops aircraft safety and performance technology, has developed the Quad/Vent Splitter that allows four patients to use one ventilator simultaneously, the April 13 Aviation International News Online reports. Using 3-D printing, the device has four independent ports…

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Editor's Note In this study, Elizabeth Wick, MD, and colleagues at the University of California at San Francisco develop a surgery-triage plan to reduce OR volume and manage healthcare resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their comprehensive rapid response plan included: Reducing OR volume by 80% to ensure adequate capacity to…

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Editor's Note This study from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, finds that a susceptible, infected, removed (SIR) epidemic model can be adapted to local population characteristics to inform hospital planning for epidemic-related surges in hospital capacity. Using COVID-19 patients only, the SIR model estimated that it would be 31 to…

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Editor's Note As hospitals face a surge of COVID-19 patients, the ability for them to care for trauma cases and medical and surgical emergencies is severely compromised. Because of this, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) on April 7 issued a statement calling for strategies to preserve capacity and capability…

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Editor's Note In this study from Seoul, South Korea, both surgical and cotton masks were ineffective in preventing the dissemination of SARS-CoV-2, from coughs of patients with COVID-19 to the environment and external mask surface. For the study, four patients with COVID-19 were admitted to negative pressure isolation rooms and…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, in its April 8 online newsletter, announced the creation of a web portal with resources to assist healthcare workers create capacity for surge patients with COVID-19. Included are: Use of Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASC) as Alternative Care Sites for Hospitals Emergency Management Healthcare Environment Checklist…

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Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on April 7 issued an update on actions the agency has taken in its ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The actions include: a guidance for remote ophthalmic assessment and monitoring devices to facilitate patient care while reducing patient and healthcare provider…

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Editor's Note In this case series of COVID-19 patients admitted to ICUs in the Lombardy region of Italy, the majority were older men, a large proportion required mechanical ventilation and high levels of PEEP, and ICU mortality was 26%. Of the 1,591 patients included in this study: the median age…

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Editor's Note Exscientia (Oxford, UK) has announced a joint initiative with Diamond Light Source (Oxforshire, UK) and Calibr (La Jolla, California), a division of  Scripps Research, to use its artificial intelligence (AI) drug discovery platform to identify compounds that could become viable drugs for treatment of COVID-19, the April 2…

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Editor's Note In this study, researchers from Stanford University create an algorithm to protect OR teams who perform urgent and emergency surgical procedures from the coronavirus and rationally conserve the personal protective equipment (PPE) they wear. Incuded in the decision tree algorithm: Patients were triaged by severity of illness into…

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