Last updated on January 4th, 2022 at 03:35 pm
In today’s update:
- Identifying risk factors of SARS CoV2 variants
- Plasma donors needed – please discuss this with your COVID-19 patients
Identifying risk factors of SARS CoV2 variants
Clinicians must determine the travel history of anyone presenting to hospital as an emergency due COVD-19 symptoms or other reasons.
If the patient has been through any of the countries on the travel ban list in the preceding 10 days OR have been a contact of such an individual, the patient should immediately be isolated in a single room with en-suite bathroom facilities, tested for COVID-19 using PCR and inform the Infection Prevention Team, bleep 7570 or ext. 1384/2452/1077/1005/1193 (or if out of hours, the on call Medical Microbiologist via switchboard).
Plasma donors needed – please discuss this with your COVID-19 patients
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is encouraging recovering COVID-19 patients to donate plasma as part of their current medical trials.
New and existing medical trials are testing if plasma helps people when used early in the disease before hospitalisation. Early use could help some of the most vulnerable people such as the elderly of those with weak immune systems.
Could your patients help?
Men who have had hospital care are six times more likely to have high antibody levels needed for the trial.
Please have this important conversation with your patients about taking part in the trials, they will be contacted by the NHS Blood and Transplant Service following their discharge.
Patients do need to be recovered for 28 days before donating and receiving convalescent plasma in hospital doesn’t exclude them from becoming a plasma donor.
