The protective measures for health-care workers during the outbreak of COVID-19: A rapid review

Article type
Authors
Ma Y1, Wang J2, Yang N1, Zhang J2, Zhang H1, Chen Y1
1Evidence-Based Medicine Center, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University; WHO Collaborating Centre for Guideline Implementation and Knowledge Translation; Chinese GRADE Center; Cochrane China Network
2School of Public Health, Lanzhou University;Evidence-Based Medicine Center, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University; WHO Collaborating Centre for Guideline Implementation and Knowledge Translation; Cochrane China Network; Chinese GRADE Center
Abstract
Background:
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the COVID-19 outbreak can be characterized as a "pandemic" as the "SARS-COV-2" virus spreads increasingly worldwide. As the people who have the closest contact with patients, there are a number of health-care workers have been infected. Health-care workers are every country's most valuable resource during the outbreak of COVID-19, it’s very important to protect their safety.
Objectives:
To conduct a comprehensive literature search and summarize the existing evidence to show: 1) what are the current protective measures for allied health personnel during the outbreak of COVID-19, and 2) how effective are the protective measures for allied health personnel?
Methods:
Considering the lack of search results on COVID-19, we will carry out the search independently in the following electronic databases from their inception to March 24, 2020: the Cochrane library, Medline, Web of Science, China Biology Medicine disc (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Wanfang Data. Moreover, we will also search the Google Scholar, the preprint platforms, and the reference lists of the identified reviews for further potential studies. After selection, we will include randomized and non-randomized controlled trials that addressed the protection for health-care workers during the outbreak of SARS, MERS and influenza. In addition, all types of studies directly targeting the protection of health-care workers during the COVID-19 will also be included. The risks of bias of the included RCTs and non-RCTs will be assessed by using the Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias tool and the ROBINS-I tool. We will perform synthesize-analysis using mixed methods. For RCTs and non-RCTs, if sufficient data will be available, we will conduct the quantitative analysis for each outcome using forest plots; when effect sizes could not be pooled, we will report the study findings narratively. For other types of COVID-19 studies, we will conduct a qualitative synthesize in order to get comprehensive protection measures.
Results:
This rapid review is ongoing and results will be presented at the Cochrane Colloquium as available.
Conclusions:
This rapid review is ongoing and conclusions will be presented at the Cochrane Colloquium as available.
Patient or healthcare consumer involvement:
None