New Zealand Emergency Department COVID-19 Preparedness: a cross-sectional survey and narrative view.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Our objective was to assess the level of COVID-19 preparedness of emergency departments (EDs) in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) through the views of emergency medicine specialists working in district health boards around the country. Given the limited experience NZ hospitals have had with SARS-CoV-2, a comparison of current local practice with recent literature from other countries identifying known weaknesses may help prevent future healthcare worker infections in NZ.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional survey of NZ emergency specialists in November 2020 to evaluate preparedness of engineering, administrative policy and personal protective equipment (PPE) use.

Results

A total of 137 surveys were completed (32% response rate). More than 12% of emergency specia

SUBMITTER: Howard MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8889447 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature