Recommendations when visiting the pediatrician during the COVID-19 pandemic

The Corona epidemic threatens the health of people, especially children:

At this time the world is going through an epidemiological situation that forces the country's medical body to act responsibly to stop the spread of the disease.

In this, pediatricians are still evaluating the scope that this has in children based on experiences such as that of China, Italy and Spain, where the pandemic has had a great reach.

From the medical reports that exist to date, the following recommendations can be extracted, which apply to our children with complex congenital heart disease, especially considering that they have previous diseases that put them at greater risk.

in consultation:

In routine consultations or for the first time it is recommended:

•  As far as possible, avoid controls on healthy children, or if necessary, carry them out in an isolated place.
•  Read the information on posters or brochures that surround the waiting room for pediatric patients to learn about handwashing and respiratory hygiene.
•  Do not bring toys, books or electronic devices that children can share in the waiting rooms.
•  For children with symptoms of acute respiratory infection, medical personnel are required to provide masks to prevent the spread of the virus. In the case of babies under 1 year old, who cannot wear a mask, they must be kept in their cars away from other patients.
•  Children and companions considered highly suspected of infection or who have had contact with infected people should be isolated in a room equipped for such a situation.

In the Emergency Service:

•  Require isolation that separates the flow of care with possible infected patients and the rest of the patients.
•  Mandatory use of mask for children and parents.
•  One companion per child.
•  As far as possible, avoid treatments or procedures that generate aerosols and increase the spread of the virus.
•  If a case of COVID-19 occurs, it must be studied using the established criteria to decide on hospitalization.

risk patients:

The following risk groups must receive a special evaluation and reinforce the preventive measures of exposure to contagion:

•  Children with complex congenital heart disease (cardiomyopathies, pericarditis, severe arrhythmias).
•  Immunocompromised infants: children undergoing chemotherapy treatments; receiving immunosuppressive drugs; infants undergoing dialysis and with HIV infection.
•  Children with neuromuscular diseases and encephalopathies.
•  Infants with chronic respiratory diseases.
•  Children with type 1 diabetes.