In the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic, several European physicians have reported a reallocation of stroke resources and reduction of hospital staff due to quarantine or infection. Francesco Corea, FESO, Chair of the ESO Social Media Committee and Marialuisa Zedde, Chair of the ESO PR Committee, each took some time to record their experiences and observations in Italy, one of the first and hardest hit European countries thus far.
While the price in terms of victims for COVID19 increases there can be further dramatic repercussions for many other diseases and clinical fields. The toll could be very high. My personal point of view,
The Italian health care system suffers the shock of corona virus pandemic. From the news that I have available, several stroke units of large hospitals have been reorganized, moved or even closed to meet the need to assist hundreds of patients with serious infectious and respiratory problems.
Some practical considerations on how the organization of our daily work has already changed and is still changing in taking care of patients with acute stroke. My point of observation comes from a hospital earlier and more directly involved in the ongoing emergency, being close to Lombardy region. Anyway, it is only a personal view but I hope these experiences and reflections may be useful for other colleagues in different countries.
ESO aims to share information that will help our members during this time. Should you have a resource related to the COVID-19 pandemic that others can benefit from, please feel free to submit any additional resources to jennifer.thomsen@eso-stroke.org to be considered for publication here on the ESO blog.
