Purpose

To promote nationwide dissemination and implementation of COVID-19 Risk Assessment and Safety Management Operational Guidelines, drawn up by SAMeR Task Force in ART centers in Argentina. Our objective is to prevent and mitigate the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 at an institutional level, while reducing the risk of infection among both physicians and patients in the context of a critical scenario in the local and Latin American healthcare system.

Methods

SAMeR Executive Committee set up a crisis committee which was made up of specialists in reproductive medicine, embryology, and healthcare management. A critical and updated review of the advances in science, documents, and recommendations released by other societies (ASRM, ESHRE, IFFS, Red LARA, societies of anesthesiologists, infectious diseases, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration—OSHA) was carried out. Likewise, there were joint meetings with the Ministry of Health of Argentina in order to draw up the guidelines. Simultaneously, ongoing medical training was carried out, thus providing added value to them, including two status surveys of the activities of the monovalent and polyvalent centers according to the country’s epidemiological mapping. Four additional recommendations were made, and online training was given to healthcare workers. The aforementioned regulations were first analyzed by the healthcare providers and their practical suggestions were then added to the guidelines.

Results

The one-off collaborative work and the actions coordinated with the National ART Program of the Ministry of Health of Argentina resulted in the development and implementation of the present COVID-19 Risk Assessment and Safety Management Operational Guidelines at a national level. SAMeR gave recommendations for the implementation of the Management Guidelines for the center reopening, providing new safety criteria against the threat of viral contagion. A new organizational culture was promoted through the awareness of all the healthcare workers and teaching responsibility. We continue working on the compliance with a new “Code of Conduct and Commitment in Healthcare” and with workplace safety measures. We helped with transforming the theoretical knowledge into practical measures for the healthcare workers in different services, with the aim to prevent, mitigate, and/or handle contingencies at the centers/services and gamete banks, in line with the actions agreed upon with the Ministry of Health.

Conclusions

As an extraordinary and uncertain event, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic helped consolidate a volunteer-based and collaborative panel of SAMeR experts who developed the COVID-19 Risk Assessment and Safety Management Operational Guidelines as a new and readily available tool for physicians, patients, and gamete banks care. Their implementation has provided specific guidelines to minimize risk for professionals in ART clinics, as well as guaranteeing patient safety.

中文翻译：

---

IVF中心重新开放的COVID-19风险评估和安全管理操作指南

目的

由SAMeR工作组在阿根廷ART中心起草，以在全国范围内推广和实施COVID-19风险评估和安全管理操作指南。我们的目标是在本地和拉丁美洲医疗保健系统出现紧急情况的情况下，在机构级别上预防和减轻SARS-CoV-2的传播，同时降低医生和患者之间的感染风险。

方法

SAMeR执行委员会成立了一个危机委员会，该委员会由生殖医学，胚胎学和医疗保健管理专家组成。对其他协会（ASRM，ESHRE，IFFS，Red LARA，麻醉医师协会，传染病协会和职业安全与卫生管理局（OSHA））发布的科学，文献和建议的进展进行了重要且最新的审查。同样，与阿根廷卫生部举行了联席会议，以拟订准则。同时，正在进行的医学培训也为他们提供了附加值，包括根据该国的流行病学分布图对一价和多价中心的活动进行两次状态调查。提出了另外四项建议，并且对医护人员进行了在线培训。医护人员首先对上述法规进行了分析，然后将其实际建议添加到指南中。

结果

一次性的协作工作以及与阿根廷卫生部国家抗逆转录病毒疗法计划相协调的行动，导致在国家一级制定并实施了现行的COVID-19风险评估和安全管理操作指南。SAMeR为中心重新开放提供了实施《管理指南》的建议，为应对病毒感染的威胁提供了新的安全标准。通过全体医护人员的意识和教学责任，促进了一种新的组织文化。我们将继续致力于遵守新的“医疗保健行为与承诺准则”以及工作场所安全措施。我们帮助将理论知识转化为针对不同服务领域的医护人员的实际措施，

结论

作为非同寻常且不确定的事件，SARS-CoV-2大流行帮助巩固了由SAMeR专家组成的基于志愿者的协作小组，他们制定了COVID-19风险评估和安全管理操作指南，将其作为医师和患者的新工具以及配子银行的照顾。他们的实施提供了特定的指南，以最大程度地减少ART诊所专业人员的风险，并保证患者安全。