Take-Home Messages from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Strengths and Pitfalls of the Italian National Health Service from a Medico-Legal Point of View

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of the Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) infection a pandemic on 11 March 2020. As of the end of October 2020, there were 50 million cases of infection and over one million deaths recorded worldwide, over 45,000 of which occurred in Italy. In Italy, the demand for intensive care over the course of this pandemic crisis has been exceptionally high, resulting in a severe imbalance between the demand for and availability of the necessary resources. This paper focuses on elements of preventive medicine and medical treatments in emergency and non-emergency situations which, based on the international scientific literature, may prove to be useful to physicians on a behavioral level and avert professional liability problems. In order to achieve this objective, we have performed a search on MEDLINE to find published articles related to the risks associated with the pandemic that contain useful suggestions and strategies for mitigating risks and protecting the safety of the population. The results have been collocated in line with these specific study areas.

Intention to Be Vaccinated for COVID-19 among Italian Nurses during the Pandemic

“…While the COVID-19 pandemic has spread globally, health systems are overwhelmed by both direct and indirect mortality from other treatable conditions [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. For a time, no reliable treatment existed for COVID-19, and the only effective measure available to control the spread of the virus was to reduce the frequency of close contact between people [ 4 ].…”

Use of Respiratory Protection Devices by Medical Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The onset of the coronavirus pandemic, in the absence of specific drugs for treatment and prevention, brought to the forefront nonspecific measures to combat this infection, aimed at interrupting the pathways of its transmission. These include temporary general lockdowns on economic and social activities, social distancing, contact tracing and limiting, quarantine, isolation, and hand hygiene, as well as wearing personal respiratory and hand protection equipment [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Transmission of the pathogen from the source occurs mainly through airborne droplets [ 1 , 6 ].…”

High Effectiveness of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines in Reducing COVID-19-Related Deaths in over 75-Year-Olds, Ceará State, Brazil

“…Considering the difficulties in the vaccine supply chain and their availability, it is important that the vaccines from both major producers showed a high effectiveness in reducing COVID-19-related deaths, even after a single dose. Furthermore, as predicted by Bolcato et al in 2020, there may be problems that occur, such as insufficient production of vaccine doses for the entire population, or with different vaccination strategies and different times between doses, generating the need for difficult prioritization decisions [ 11 ]. In this context, the ability of a vaccine to protect against serious illness and death should be considered the most important outcome, since hospital admissions, especially in intensive care units, represent the greatest burden on health systems and has led several countries to face a collapse in their health systems.…”