As a healthcare professional, you make it your mission to deliver safe, cost-effective care. ECRI supports you in this mission. Our interdisciplinary staff is here to help you address your most challenging issues in your preparation and response to COVID-19. We have compiled some free resources below to assist you. Additional comprehensive content is available on our membership websites. Please contact us to learn more.
COVID-19 resource collections
Visit these COVID-19 resource pages often for the latest information and life-saving resources.
Hospitals & health systems
- ECRI Position Paper | COVID-19 Vaccines: Mitigating Disease and Promoting Global Health Equity: The unprecedented rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines marks a giant leap in scientific progress and distributing them justly could show the world new models for achieving global health equity.
- ECRI Position Paper | Pregnancy and COVID-19 Vaccines: A Hopeful Promise of Protection for Mothers and Newborns: People trying to become pregnant or planning to become pregnant do not need to avoid becoming pregnant before or after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
- ECRI Position Paper | When “Normal” Might Happen: Post-COVID-19 Transition Forecasting and Its Implications for Healthcare Organizations: This paper examines the rationale behind current post-COVID transition forecasts, their limitations, and their implications for healthcare provider planning.
- ECRI Position Paper | Tracking Genetic Variants of SARS-CoV-2: Ensuring Diagnostic Testing Retains Accuracy: From a public health perspective, new mutations can also be worrisome for another reason: their effect on COVID-19 diagnostic test accuracy.
- ECRI Position Paper | Community Engagement to Improve Enrollment Diversity in COVID-19 Studies: ECRI believes community engagement to increase diversity and inclusion of patients enrolled in COVID-19 trials is critical, not just for vaccine trials, but also for treatment trials and epidemiologic studies.
- ECRI Position Paper | Testing’s Role in Combating COVID-19: No Guarantee for Safe Holiday Gatherings: Testing plays a major role in controlling COVID-19’s spread, but a negative result does not ensure safety from the virus when celebrating the holidays with people outside one’s household or bubble. Two reasons: testing reflects only a person’s status the day of testing, and the timing and type of SARS-CoV-2 testing matter.
- ECRI Position Paper | Immunity Passports Based on COVID-19 Antibody Testing: A Flawed Concept?: ECRI examines the idea of immunity passports and identifies implications for use as a safe and effective intervention to prevent COVID-19 transmission.
- ECRI Position Paper | The Role of Diagnostic Testing in Combating COVID-19: Accuracy Matters: Diagnostic testing to identify individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 is essential for mitigating the rate of spread to avoid morbidity.
- ECRI Position Paper | Post-ICU Syndrome: The Coming Wave That Needs Attention Now: New ECRI research examines the dangers and likelihood of Post-Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS) for recovered COVID-19 patients that experienced a long time in the ICU and mechanical ventilation.
- Webinar Recording | Medication Safety During COVID-19: What Have We Learned?: Join ECRI and ISMP experts as they sit down with front-line medication safety practitioners to discuss changes that have been necessary to protect staff and support patients during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
- ECRI Position Paper | The Role of Genetics in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Understanding the genetics at play in this pandemic is important for recognizing how the disease manifests and developing safe and effective vaccines and treatments.
- Webinar Recording | Triage Decisions About Ventilator Use: What Does the Evidence Suggest?: ECRI examines the effectiveness of triage systems for identifying disease severity and mortality risk to inform decisions on scarce resource allocation during pandemics.
- ECRI Position Paper | Temperature Screening to Prevent COVID-19 Transmission: Creating False Security: ECRI advises what we now know about SARS CoV 2 indicates temperature screening and questionnaires are a very problematic theory about how to reduce transmission.
- Webinar Recording | Empathetic Communication and Caring for the Caregiver During COVID-19: View the recording of our April 16, 2020 webinar with RLDatix that combined the clinical side of the COVID-19 battle (the head) with the need to provide emotional first aid for caregivers (the heart).
- COVID-19 Technology Management Resources: Checklists, equipment recommendations, alternate suppliers, and infection control guidelines to help biomedical and clinical engineers, supply chain professionals, and clinicians prepare for contagious outbreaks.
- ECRI Position Paper | Prudent use of SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing: Avoiding false assumptions: ECRI recommends using a cautious approach and avoiding over-interpreting what these tests can show and how to apply information obtained from these tests.
- Webinar Recording | Infrared Temperature Screening to Reduce Infection Transmission by Visitors and Staff during Outbreaks: What Does the Evidence Support?: This webinar focuses on the evidence pertaining to External Infrared (IR) Temperature Screening Devices used with or without a questionnaire and the overall effectiveness of using this strategy to identify persons who may be infected with COVID-19.
- Webinar Recording | Combating COVID-19 Together: This webinar is design to assist healthcare professionals assess their preparedness in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Podcast: Assessing Preparedness for COVID-19 Outbreak: This podcast discusses the virus in the context of outbreak preparedness and what healthcare providers can do to get ready.
- Burnout and Its Impact on Patient Safety: Healthcare workers, already strained by the flu season, could soon be overrun by COVID-19 cases. This guidance article, published by ECRI last year, provides helpful tips for hospital staff during these stressful times.
- Disinfectant Concentrations and Contact Times for EPA's List of Products Effective against Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, the Cause of COVID-19: This table lists disinfectant concentrations and contact times for EPA's List N, which covers antimicrobial products effective against novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. This will help you ensure you're using an effective disinfectant at a sufficient concentration and contact time to kill SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19.
- Portable and Transport Ventilator Evaluations: Overview and ratings of ventilators used for in-hospital transport, long-term care, and mass-casualty critical care.
Ambulatory & outpatient care
- Hand Hygiene: Proper hand hygiene can reduce the spread of COVID-19. This guidance article provides healthcare workers in the ambulatory and outpatient care settings a detailed set of guidelines for proper hand hygiene.
- Infection Prevention & Control: This guidance article provides an overview of infection prevention and control in the ambulatory and outpatient care setting. Strategies provided in this document can help to reduce infection-related liability by being able to demonstrate that the office has effective policies and procedures in place to prevent and manage infections.
The impact of COVID-19 in behavioral health
- The Lancet | COVID-19: the gendered impacts of the outbreak
- Lancet Psychiatry | Mental health care for medical staff in China during the COVID-19 outbreak
- The Lancet | Mitigate the effects of home confinement on children during the COVID-19 outbreak
- Lancet Psychiatry | Psychological interventions for people affected by the COVID-19 epidemic
External resources
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) | No-Touch Modalities for Disinfecting Patient Rooms in Acute Care Settings: A Rapid Review: The healthcare field is struggling with urgent questions about how to respond to the current COVID-19 pandemic. The AHRQ Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) Program has rapidly summarized the current available evidence in response to urgent questions about promising options to control the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Centers for Disease Control | COVID-19 Vaccination Program Interim Playbook for Jurisdiction Operation: Reference document for how to plan and operationalize a vaccination response to COVID-19. This is designed for state, territorial, and local public health programs and their partners.
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Public Health Emergency | COVID-19 Healthcare Planning Checklist: This checklist is adapted from a variety of HHS Pandemic Influenza Pandemic Planning resources. It identifies specific activities your jurisdiction can do now to prepare for, respond to, and be resilient in the face of COVID-19.
- Centers for Disease Control | Handwashing: Clean Hands Save Lives Poster: Printable posters that can be used to help raise awareness about handwashing in highly visible public areas, such as schools, workplaces, and restrooms. They are designed for all audiences, and some are available in multiple sizes and languages.
Consulting & certification programs
- Infection Prevention Consultation: On-site consultations with ECRI’s certified infection preventionists to identify vulnerabilities that may result in increased infections
- Healthcare Environmental Management Certification Program: The only comprehensive online certification and training program for Healthcare Environmental Management (HEM) with focused training on personal protective equipment and infection control.
Resources for healthcare professionals
Our free resources include emergency preparedness and infection control guidelines, checklists, and tools; supply chain resources, and guidance for aging care facilities. Additional resources and services are available through ECRI’s membership programs. Contact us today to learn more.
* All material in this COVID-19 Resource Center, https://www.ecri.org/coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak-preparedness-center/, is protected by copyright, and all rights are reserved under international and Pan-American copyright conventions. However, in light of current circumstances, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ECRI will permit the ECRI content accessible from this COVID-19 Resource Center to be reproduced and shared, in whole or in part, for non-commercial purposes only. If you desire to reproduce or share content from third-party sources cited within this Center, you must first seek approval from that third-party source.