In the eye of the hurricane: the Swiss COVID-19 pandemic stepwise shutdown approach in organ donation and transplantation

Franz Immer; Christian Benden; Andreas Elmer; Nathalie Krügel; Susanne Nyfeler; Mathias Nebiker; Markus Wilhlem; Cédric Hirzel; National Committee for Organ Donation (CNDO); Medical Committee (CM); Swisstransplant Infectious Diseases Working Group (STAI)

doi:10.4414/smw.2020.20447

In the eye of the hurricane: the Swiss COVID-19 pandemic stepwise shutdown approach in organ donation and transplantation

Swiss Med Wkly. 2020 Dec 31:150:w20447. doi: 10.4414/smw.2020.20447. eCollection 2020 Dec 14.

Authors

Franz Immer¹, Christian Benden², Andreas Elmer¹, Nathalie Krügel¹, Susanne Nyfeler³, Mathias Nebiker⁴, Markus Wilhlem⁵, Cédric Hirzel⁶; National Committee for Organ Donation (CNDO); Medical Committee (CM); Swisstransplant Infectious Diseases Working Group (STAI)

Affiliations

¹ Swisstransplant, Berne, Switzerland.
² Swisstransplant, Berne, Switzerland / University of Zurich Faculty of Medicine, Zurich, Switzerland.
³ Federal Office of Public Health, Berne, Switzerland.
⁴ Department of Intensive Care, Berne University Hospital, University of Berne, Switzerland.
⁵ University of Zurich Faculty of Medicine, Zurich, Switzerland / Department of Cardiac Surgery, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland.
⁶ Department of Infectious Diseases, Berne University Hospital, University of Berne, Switzerland.

PMID: 33382904
DOI: 10.4414/smw.2020.20447

Abstract

The Swiss stepwise shutdown approach in organ donation and transplantation helped to maintain a limited national organ procurement and vital organ transplant activity, avoiding a complete nationwide shutdown of organ donation and transplant activity.&nbsp.

MeSH terms

COVID-19 / epidemiology*
COVID-19 / prevention & control*
Communicable Disease Control / organization & administration*
Humans
Organ Transplantation / statistics & numerical data*
Pandemics
Retrospective Studies
SARS-CoV-2
Switzerland
Tissue and Organ Procurement / statistics & numerical data*