- Infusion center staff should be closely monitored for possible COVID-19 infection and any individual displaying symptoms should be put on leave for 14 days
- Daily temperature checks for all staff are required prior to shift
- Self-health forms should be considered including the date and a declaration that staff do not show any symptoms and have a normal temperature


Ohio State University, Columbus

- This article details new procedures for infusion centers that assist patients with Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD)
- This article is both a review as well as an experiment where experts provided a survey to a number of infusion clinics that assist with IBD and the results of that survey were analyzed and some guidelines, as well as general statements, have been developed
- This paper has been broken down into several sections in order to address specific areas of concern, including, Guidance for Patients Attending Infusion for IBD, New Infusion Center Operations, Guidelines for Infusion Center Staff, and Other General Topics


Best Practice Guidance for Adult Infusion Centres during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Report from the COVID-19 International Organization for the Study of IBD [IOIBD] Task Force

Citation: Iris Dotan, Remo Panaccione, Gilaad G Kaplan, Colm O’Morain, James O Lindsay, Maria T Abreu, on behalf of IOIBD, Best Practice Guidance for Adult Infusion Centres during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Report from the COVID-19 International Organization for the Study of IBD [IOIBD] Task Force, Journal of Crohn's and Colitis, Volume 14, Issue Supplement_3, October 2020, Pages S785–S790, https://doi.org/10.1093/ecco-jcc/jjaa147

URL: https://academic.oup.com/ecco-jcc/article/14/Supplement_3/S785/5909836?login=true


- This survey was provided to infusion centers which possess IOIBD membership which are located worldwide
- Results of the survey indicated a few initial changes have been implemented on a per center basis to maintain practice, these include the following:
     - Shortening of infusion times
     - Reducing, or completely doing away with, post infusion monitoring for stable patients
     - Increasing spacing between infusion chairs
     - Increasing cleaning between infusions
     - Reducing maximum patient capacity
     - Increasing hours of operations
- There were a few other statistics of note which are detailed on the child node: Figure 1. Changes in infusion centre dynamics since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic


Survey Results

- Patients should receive prescreening a day or two before appointment date for COVID-19 symptoms and contact
- Patients that show and signs of symptoms should isolate for 72 hours followed by review of status, if symptoms persist patients should isolate for an additional 14 days
- Patients with prior positive COVID-19 results, patients will only be allowed to return after 2 negative tests


Guidance for Patients Attending Infusion for IBD

- Staff schedules should be pooled and all nurses present should be comfortable with all infusion protocols in order to minimize staff switching
- If infusion centers are located within a facility which requires transport from one area to another area through a secondary area that could pose infection risk, infusion practices should be moved
- All maximum PPE and sanitization for staff should be in effect
- All drugs which can be administered as a subcutaneous injection should be considered for such procedures
- Patients with adequate drug levels should consider spacing their infusions out to further dates in order to minimize their risk of infection


New Infusion Center Operations

Guidelines for Infusion Center Staff

- Infusion centers are considered ‘essential services’ and should remain open during any prolonged lockdown periods
- In order to maintain resilience of service, consider merging IBD infusion services with other infusion practices (rheumatology, dermatology, oncology)
- Unnecessary patient laboratory tests should be postponed in order to ease lab burdens
- A change to at home infusions should not be routinely recommended as patients will no longer be able to receive proper screening, increased possibility of disease spread, difficulty in tracking, difficulty to ensure proper personnel training, and inefficient use of personnel time


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