MEDICI Researchers Awarded $20K by CAS-CARF
Dr. Janet Martin of the MEDICI Centre at Western University has been awarded $20K to assess the risk of COVID-19 infection in perioperative healthcare professionals and surgical patients. The funding is provided by the Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society and the Canadian Anesthesia Research Foundation. The study will be co-led by Dr. Davy Cheng (MEDICI Centre) and Dr. Amit Garg (ICES Western). Co-Investigators from Western University include Mark Daley (Special Advisor to the President [Data Strategy]), Dr. Ava John-Baptiste (Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics), Dr. Emil Schemitsch (Department of Surgery), Dr. Homer Yang (Department of Anesthesia & Perioperative Medicine), and Dr. Ashraf Fayad (Department of Anesthesia & Perioperative Medicine). The Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society (CAS) and the Canadian Anesthesia Research Foundation (CARF) are providing the funding over a two year period.
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted surgical services provision in hospitals on a global scale. The MEDICI Centre recently worked with the GlobalSurg Collaborative on an international study assessing surgical outcomes of patients with COVID-19. Their findings estimated 28 million elective surgeries were cancelled across 72 countries due to the pandemic.
Hospitals are beginning to reopen surgical services. However, there is currently no reliable data to determine the rate of COVID-19 infection and morbidity among perioperative healthcare professionals who provide care to surgical patients. The investigators aim to address this knowledge gap in order for hospitals to resume elective surgical services and other invasive procedures in a manner that protects patients, perioperative healthcare professionals, and the healthcare system as a whole; especially as subsequent waves or surges of COVID-19 infection are anticipated in the coming year.
The study is supported by the data services provided by ICES Western, a satellite site of the ICES, a not-for-profit community of scientists, researchers, data experts and clinicians. ICES Western houses and uses healthcare data for the purposes of analysis, evaluation, and decision support.
