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- Medical innovations to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic
I didn't see a thread so far in the Medical forum that addressed the specific innovations that are being worked on to help combat this pandemic, so I thought I'd start this thread.
There is a thread about trying to use a single ventilator to serve multiple critical Patients (Pts) in ICU, but that is very problematic for several reasons, so that will not be merged into this thread. Instead, it would be good to focus on positive potential innovations.
One such innovation may be using plasma from Pts who have recovered from the virus to help treat new Pts. I don't know much about that, so hopefully Bill or Jim or others can comment.
One innovation that I saw today was a new protocol to sterilize N95 masks for re-use (with minimal damage to the masks, which may permit dozens of re-uses). This isn't something that we can do at home, but it may be possible to do it in some hospitals...
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/27/health/n95-respirator-rewear-coronavirus-duke-trnd/index.html
Duke researchers are decontaminating N95 masks so doctors can reuse them to treat Coronavirus patients
The protocol published by Duke researchers:
https://www.safety.duke.edu/sites/default/files/N-95_VHP-Decon-Re-Use.pdf
There is a thread about trying to use a single ventilator to serve multiple critical Patients (Pts) in ICU, but that is very problematic for several reasons, so that will not be merged into this thread. Instead, it would be good to focus on positive potential innovations.
One such innovation may be using plasma from Pts who have recovered from the virus to help treat new Pts. I don't know much about that, so hopefully Bill or Jim or others can comment.
One innovation that I saw today was a new protocol to sterilize N95 masks for re-use (with minimal damage to the masks, which may permit dozens of re-uses). This isn't something that we can do at home, but it may be possible to do it in some hospitals...
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/27/health/n95-respirator-rewear-coronavirus-duke-trnd/index.html
Duke researchers are decontaminating N95 masks so doctors can reuse them to treat Coronavirus patients
The protocol published by Duke researchers:
https://www.safety.duke.edu/sites/default/files/N-95_VHP-Decon-Re-Use.pdf