Tag Archives: COVID-19

Together with other Society presidents, the BHVS president, Dr Benoy Shah, has supported statements for patients published in Heart Valve Voice. See https://heartvalvevoice.com/news/news/statement-heart-valve-voice-and-professional-societies-phase and https://heartvalvevoice.com/news/news/covid-19-and-heart-valve-disease Other articles from COVID-19 Bulletin 2: COVID-19 and immunology vaccine development expert report on COVID-19 and immunology research COVID-19 and primary care a review of current telemedicine platforms COVID-19 and cardiorenal disease COVID-19 and diabetes Diabetes UK position statement COVID-19 diagnostic glucose/lact

COVID-19 Bulletin 1: COVID-19 and care of the elderly COVID-19 and diabetes COVID-19 and heart failure COVID-19 and primary care COVID-19 in cancer patients COVID-19 and cardiovascular disease COVID-19 and respiratory medicine Round up of COVID-19 e-learning, apps and websites

Dr Lara Mitchell gives advice on how to have difficult conversations These are the words of Dr Lara Mitchell (pictured right), a Consultant in Medicine for the Elderly (Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow; NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde). She is also Chair of the British Geriatrics Society Cardiovascular Special Interest Group and a BJC editorial board member. To give healthcare professionals a visual approach to support with difficult conversations around dying with compassion and honesty, Dr Mitchell has produced resource materials with Open Change, an educational design company. A structured way that healthcare professionals can

Dr Amar Puttanna writes on diabetes and COVID-19 One of the first papers by Wu et al.1 looked at case fatality rates and noted that those with diabetes had a higher rate of 7.3% compared to the overall rate of 2.3%. Further reviews of Chinese patient data from both intensive care and non-intensive care, looking at metabolic disease, noted a diabetes prevalence of 9.7% of patients.2 The authors also noted a two-fold increase in those with diabetes in patients with severe disease (i.e. admitted to intensive care units). Similarly, data from Italy noted that 31.3% of deceased patients with COVID-19 had diabetes.3 It is difficult to conclude anyt

The British Society for Heart Failure (BSH) has therefore produced a position statement designed to help easily identify and prioritise patients that should be considered for review. It will also support local teams to identify a lead clinician that they can contact for advice. BSH recommends that the following patients are considered for review: New referrals of symptomatic patients with NTproBNP >2,000pg/ml from primary care or recent A&E attendance Known HF patient with symptoms of decompensation Recently discharged patients following admission with acute heart failure Patients with advanced care plans and receiving palliative car

Led by experts at the hospital, it gives practical advice and support. It covers the epidemiology, clinical symptoms and signs, and current management of COVID-19 and follows the evolving situation in the UK. You will learn how to complete a safe assessment of suspected COVID-19 cases and discover the best protocol to protect yourself and others. The course will cover what you need to know and what you need to do in relation to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in primary care. Topics covered include: background of COVID-19 current situation in the UK when to suspect COVID-19 infection in primary care safe assessment of suspected case

The task force suggestions will be reconsidered as relevant evidence, particularly randomised trials, are published. The interim guidance, is available at: www.thoracic.org/covid/covid‐19‐guidance.pdf. ECMO-plays a vital role There is currently no vaccine or treatment for COVID-19 beyond supportive care, such as mechanical ventilation or, in severe cases, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to maintain patients and provide a window for potential recovery. When demand far outpaces a hospital’s ability to provide highly specialised, resource-intensive therapies such as ECMO, physicians must be prepared to determine when and if to o

To address this urgent need, the International Society for Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) is providing open access to its COVID-19 resource page via the ISTH Academy, as well as making all content from the ISTH Academy freely accessible. To access all ISTH content, simply visit academy.isth.org and sign in with your ISTH log-in or create a free ISTH Academy account to get started. On the ISTH Academy, you can access the latest education and resources from experts in the field around the world. In addition to courses on topics like venous thrombosis and cancer-associated thrombosis, you can also access past meeting presentations, posters, w

Leading experts treating COVID-19 patients now provide advice on managing cardiovascular disease during the pandemic. New European Society of Cardiology (ESC) guidance provides healthcare professionals with the best available knowledge, based on practical experience, on how to diagnose and manage cardiovascular conditions in COVID-19 patients, treat the coronavirus infection, and organise and prioritise care. It will be updated as more evidence is gathered. The authors stress that document is not a guideline but rather a guidance document. The recommendations are the result of observations and personal experience from health care providers at

EASD e-learning on diabetes and COVID-19 Two BJC editorial board members feature heavily in the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) e-learning programmes on COVID-19 and diabetes, available on-line at: https://easd-elearning.org/covid-19/ Consultant diabetologist, Dr Amar Puttanna, (Good Hope Hospital, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust) provides information on diabetes and COVID-19 in two short videos emphasising how this information is likely to change-almost daily. Based on evidence from China and Italy, Dr Puttanna assesses what we know so far on managing diabetes during the crisis. People in the UK wit