European and Asia-Pacific Societies Provide Joint Checklist for Interventional Radiology Services to Manage COVID-19

April 2, 2020—The Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe (CIRSE) and the Asia-Pacific Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology (APSCVIR) have jointly created a checklist for preparing interventional radiology services during the COVID-19 pandemic and patient surge.

According to the CIRSE/APSCVIR checklist, which is available here, the primary consideration in preparing the interventional service for COVID-19 is the prevention of intrahospital transmission so as to protect patients and health care workers from being contaminated or infected, while providing safe care for patients.

The checklist informs and guides interventional radiology departments on:

• How to set up a COVID-19 task force/crisis management
• Infection prevention and control practices
• Management of infected patients

The following 22 action items or points for attention are included in the CIRSE/APSCVIR COVID-19 Checklist:

1. Set Up COVID-19 Task Force or Crisis Management team in radiology/interventional radiology to sort out all COVID-19 related issues
2. Infection prevention and control practices
3. COVID-19 suspect case definitions and expanded case definitions
4. Personal protective equipment
5. Aerosol generating procedures
6. Screening measures
7. Visitor policy
8. Designated wards for COVID-19 management
9. Patient segregation
10. Workload reduction
11. Vetting and prioritization of interventional radiology procedures
12. Dedicated workflows to prevent cross-transmission
13. Staff segregation
14. Social distancing
15. Staff leave and travel advisory
16. Staff surveillance
17. Contact tracing
18. Communications
19. Staff morale, welfare, and psychological support systems
20. Logistics
21. Management of residents and fellows
22. Research activities

The CIRSE COVID-19 resource center is available here.