COVID-19 FAQ’s in Pediatric Cardiac Surgery

The world at large and the United States’ health care infrastructure face unprecedented challenges in the COVID-19 pandemic, and the congenital heart disease (CHD) community is no exception. These challenges include potential resource scarcities of equipment, personnel, and blood products. There is also a potential risk of infection to healthcare providers and family members. The relatively small size of the CHD workforce adds another dimension to the challenge, since the rapid spread of COVID-19 could result in programmatic collapse at a moment’s notice secondary to insufficient personnel from infection or quarantine. While many segments of our culture can pause during this period of crisis, pediatric patients’ diseases require continuing care, particularly amongst newborns and infants who often require surgery during a narrow window of time to avoid death and provide for optimal outcomes. The medical community has been overwhelmed with video conferences, webinars and newsletter updates that have covered a broad range of topics. Many of the questions now center on critical care and infectious disease (ID) related issues – screening techniques, preventative measures, treatment options, etc. Crisis management strategies for congenital heart disease have recently been published. The purpose of this review is to succinctly summarize frequently asked questions related to COVID-19 as it relates to children with congenital heart disease.