Table 1.

Key recommendations from COVID-19 clinical practice guidelines for HD facilities

1. Standard, contact, and droplet precautions should be appropriately performed by all patients and healthcare workers in hemodialysis facilities. The waiting room or resting area should be closed, and surgical masks and hand sanitizer should always be available for patients to use before entering the HD unit.

2. All patients are recommended to check their body temperature and respiratory symptoms before coming to an HD facility. If they have a fever ≥ 37.5°C or respiratory symptoms such as dry cough, sore throat, or shortness of breath, they should not visit the HD unit without notifying healthcare workers.

3. A patient with a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 case should be transferred to a healthcare facility with an isolation room and portable dialysis machine. A transportation and management plan should be established in consultation with the public health center and infection control division of the hospital.

4. Contacts are defined as HD patients and healthcare workers who have been in contact with a confirmed case. Contacts should monitor body temperature and respiratory symptoms every day. Those without fever or respiratory symptoms should be subjected to self-quarantine and HD with cohort isolation for 14 days from the last exposure. All transport between home and the HD facility should be provided by the disease prevention authority.

5. Inter-hospital transfer is essentially prohibited during an outbreak. If referral to another hospital is inevitable, the attending physician should transfer patients after careful discussion with the regional disease prevention authority and designated hospital. Patient transfer should be performed only when there is solid evidence that the patient is not infected.

COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019; HD, hemodialysis.