Bibliometric Analysis Of Research on Coronavirus Infection and Patient Safety in Health Care

Glícia Cardoso Nascimento,Luana Kelle Batista Moura,Letícia Da Silva Andrade,Maria Adelaide Silva Paredes Moreira,Maria Eliete Batista Moura,Samuel Ricardo Batista Moura,Gabriela Martins Santos,Felismina Mendes,Ana Raquel Batista De Carvalho

doi:10.2174/1874434602115010373

Abstract

Objective: The study aimed at analyzing the international scientific publications on coronavirus infection and patient safety in health care. Methods: This research is a bibliometric study carried out by searching published articles in theISIWebofKnowledge/WebofScience database and analyzing the results through bibliometric analysis software HistCite. The selected time frame was between 1970 and 2020, and we used the following descriptors: “coronavirus infection” OR “severe acute respiratory syndrome” OR “COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2”. Results: We found 5,434 publications in 1,491 different journals; they are written by 18,274 authors linked to 4,064 institutions, which are located in 104 countries. In the citations analysis, the h-index was 155, and the average of citations each article received was 30.79. Conclusion: During the studied period, the Web of Science database showed two peaks of publications on coronavirus infections.The first comprised 768 articles published between 2003 and 2004 when a new coronavirus caused an outbreak of severe acute respiratory failure. The second consisted of 576 articles published between 2019 and 2020, during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic COVID-19. The knowledge on coronavirus infection should be widely shared so that new studies can be designed and the world scientific community can contribute to improving patient safety in healthcare and preventing new pandemics of severe acute respiratory infection caused by coronaviruses.

Highlights

The descriptors were chosen in accordance with the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)thesaurus; the terms used for the search are: “coronavirus infection” OR “severe acute respiratory syndrome” OR “COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2.”The quotation marks are used to search the exact combinations of terms with more than one word
We found 5,434 publications on coronavirus infection in 1,491 different journals; they are written by 18,274 authors linked to 4,064 institutions, which are located in 104 countries
The second consisted of 576 articles published between 2019 and 2020, the period of the COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

Introduction

Patient safety focuses on reducing the risks associated with health care, comprising technologies and products, as well as human relations and communication failures [1]. Aiming to increase the quality of the health services provided, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the World Alliance for Patient Safety, to which several countries signed a commitment to adopt measures to improve patient care [2]. In this context, this alliance posed three global challenges: the first, in 2005, foregrounded the prevention of healthcareassociated infections (HAIs); the second, in 2008, concentrated actions on safety in surgical environments [3]; and the third, in 2017, centered on reducing avoidable medication-associated harm [4]. In Brazil, to meet WHO global challenges, in 2013, the Ministry of Health and Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA) regulated Ordinance 529/201376 and the Collegiate Board Resolution 36/201387, establishing the Programa Nacional de Segurança do Paciente (PNSP - National Program for Patient Safety) and actions for patient safety in healthcare services, respectively.

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