Hospital care for elderly COVID-19 patients.

Jack Roberto Silva Fhon,Rosalina Aparecida Partezani Rodrigues,Fernanda De Brito Matiello,Jessica Silva De Araujo,Zoila Esperanza Leitón-Espinoza,Luipa Michele Silva

doi:10.1590/1518-8345.4649.3396

Jack Roberto Silva Fhon, Rosalina Aparecida Partezani Rodrigues + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/1518-8345.4649.3396

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Abstract

Objective:to analyze the newspaper articles on hospital care for elderly COVID-19 patients in online newspapers.Method:documentary, retrospective, descriptive and exploratory research. The data were collected from articles published on open-access websites of 12 newspapers from the following countries: Brazil, Spain, United States, France, Italy and Portugal.Results:out of 4,220 newspaper articles identified in this regard, 101 were selected after applying the inclusion criteria, the majority coming from Italy. The data analysis revealed three thematic categories: the care for patients with COVID-19 in the health system; the work process of the health team and its concern with contagion; and ethical dilemma in care for the elderly during hospitalization.Conclusion:the COVID-19 pandemic presented itself quickly and was widely reported in all countries. The health systems need to reorganize for care to the global population, especially the elderly, considering their weaknesses and also the lack of prior professional training to offer care to this population.

Highlights

Public health has been facing one of the biggest pandemics of this century, caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), which causes COVID-19
Obtained the highest number of selected newspaper articles (33), followed by France (19) and the United States (15)
Some differences between the countries in the dissemination of news about hospital care for elderly people with COVID-19 are noticeable in Figure 2 and in the thematic categories identified, especially in European countries, which experienced the severity of the disease before America, facing the overcrowding of hospitals even before the first cases of deaths were recorded in Brazil

Summary

Introduction

Public health has been facing one of the biggest pandemics of this century, caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), which causes COVID-19. COVID-19 is an acute respiratory disease, transmitted from person to person, which presents high mortality among the elderly(2). The mortality rate in this population is around 14.8%(3) and, in people with underlying medical conditions such as cardiovascular diseases (13.2%), with diabetes mellitus (9.2%), arterial hypertension (8.4%), chronic respiratory diseases (8.0%) and cancer (7.6%)(4). The incubation period varies between five and 14 days, and the transmission period is five days after the appearance of the first symptoms(5). The differential of this disease is the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which has affected between 17% and 29% of patients. In 75% of these, atypical bilateral pneumonia occurs, detected by computerized tomography(6)

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