key: cord-0765564-ip62l1bj
authors: Hunt, Beverley
title: Education of healthcare professionals and the public about thrombosis and COVID‐19
date: 2021-08-11
journal: J Thromb Haemost
DOI: 10.1111/jth.15483
sha: 56d75eb1d91117ec6de4761437f1c692988aca28
doc_id: 765564
cord_uid: ip62l1bj

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So, what did we do back in those early months of 2020? At the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH), in recognition that the understanding and research into the mechanisms and management of the prothrombotic state of severe COVID-19 came from ISTH members, and required dissemination to other members, physicians and across multiple disciplines, multiple educational webinars were set up to provide information among healthcare professions. The ISTH Scientific and Standardization Committee (SSC) leadership and structure also played a part and allowed for quick collaboration to develop initial guidance documents that were published in 2020 on the management of coagulopathy and thromboprophylaxis in patients with COVID-19. 1 ISTH members around the world were publishing research in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 at incredible speeds and setting up groundbreaking clinical trials to better understand COVID-19, clotting, and thromboprophylaxis.

The thirst for early understanding was significant, and there were astonishingly large audiences for these Zoom webinars. The first webinar on April 9, 2020, entitled "Thrombosis, Thromboprophylaxis & Coagulopathy in COVID-19 Infections," with Marcel Levi and myself speaking drew in registration from more than 4000 ISTH members with more than 16 000 people watching it after the event. The programme of COVID-19 webinars has continued with a further seven more events up to now.

With World Thrombosis Day being ISTH's public-facing awareness program about blood clots and in my role as chair of the World Thrombosis Day Steering Committee, I worked with the team to disseminate information about COVID-19 and clots to the public, conducting multiple interviews with the press, who were very receptive to this topic. Indeed, we recognized what a critical opportunity this was for getting the public to recognize what thrombosis is and how common it is in patients in the hospital in general, and especially those with COVID-19. Together with the ISTH COVID-19 Task Force and the World Thrombosis Day Steering Committee members, as well as Thrombosis UK and other partners, we went to work, while also continuing our work on the front lines.

Today, through international research and collaboration, we now have a much better understanding of how to manage patients with moderate and severe COVID-19. Randomised controlled trials looking at the utility of thromboprophylaxis in hospitalised patients with COVID-19 are published or shortly due for publication.

We have worked to understand the importance of "sticky blood" and why this is such a critical factor in COVID-19 pneumonia.

This stickiness is a combination of what COVID-19 is doing to the patient, as well as the fact that people who tend to get moderate to severe COVID-19 tend to be older and obese-both of which are associated with an increased prothrombotic and inflammatory state.

I shared with BBC News earlier in the year that I cannot think of another virus that has such a potent effect on the stickiness of the blood. One of the listeners, David Hare, a British playwright, was inspired to write a play about his experience of COVID-19, mixed with a critique of the British government's response. It was initially entitled "Sticky Blood" but eventually went on the London stage called "Beat the Devil" now available as a script* It was wonderful to hear an excellent monologue on the signs and symptoms of DVT and PE from the mouth of Ralph Fiennes when the show went live-yet another way to increase awareness of venous thromboembolism (VTE). And that is something to be truly proud of.

Beverley Hunt, Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.

Email: beverley.hunt@gstt.nhs.uk *https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beat-Devil -Monol ogue-David -Hare/dp/05713 66082

Scientific and Standardization Committee communication: Clinical guidance on the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of venous thromboembolism in hospitalized patients with COVID-19

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on weight status and factors associated with weight gain among adults in Massachusetts