Management of corpses during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain

González-Fernández, Jorge; Ibáñez-Bernáldez, María; Martínez-Tejedor, José Amador; Alama-Carrizo, Sergio; Sánchez-Ugena, Félix; Montero-Juanes, José María

doi:10.1016/j.remle.2020.05.001

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 12 publications

(13 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This result is similar to that of the present study, which found that the volume of deaths and the accumulation of corpses in hospitals and residences created a barrier for the professionals and interfered with the dignified and respectful handling of the corpses. Even so, this study observes that professionals have tried to provide dignity to the handling and accompaniment of the bodies of the deceased, despite the circumstances and the over-saturation of the system (González-Fernández et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nobody Should Die Alone. Loneliness and a Dignified Death During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Hernández-Fernández

Falcón

2021

Omega (Westport)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

During the direst months of the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of people died alone. This study analyzes these deaths, which occurred without the presence of loved ones, and seeks to a) examine the significance for relatives, as well as professionals, of dying alone, b) determine if these solitary deaths can be considered dignified, or good deaths, and c) evaluate if the treatment of the cadavers and the funeral rites transpired with the desired dignity and sensitivity. The study was carried out in the autonomous community of Madrid using a qualitative, phenomenological, and interpretative approach through in-depth interviews of 49 informants, professionals and relatives. Interviews were conducted between July and November of 2020, followed by an interpretive, categorical, qualitative analysis. Among the key findings are that during the most critical months, deaths lacked the desired dignity, even though the involved professionals did their best to accompany and dignify the deaths.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nobody Should Die Alone. Loneliness and a Dignified Death During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Hernández-Fernández

Falcón

2021

Omega (Westport)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The number of deaths that healthcare and social services professionals, as well as funeral services professionals, have had to deal with during the state of emergency has been inordinate and unexpected (3). It might be presumed that healthcare and social services professionals, who routinely witness deaths in their work, may be accustomed to deaths and are therefore more sensitized (24), and that these professionals' continuous contact with death allows them to create strategies to facilitate future contact with death (25).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The systems for managing the deceased broke down and funeral homes were overflowing (3). Improvised morgues were created, and military and fire service personnel were mobilized to transport bodies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“The worst thing that has happened to me”: Healthcare and social services professionals confronting death during the COVID-19 crisis

Hernández-Fernández

Falcón

2022

Front. Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ObjectivesThis study analyzes the subjective emotional impact COVID-19 deaths have had on healthcare, social services, and funeral services professionals, it explores the different implications, and analyzes the different reactions of health and social care professionals and funeral professionals to the volume of deaths.MethodsThis work is based on a qualitative, phenomenological, and interpretative approach through in-depth interviews with 42 informants, including 36 social and healthcare professionals, as well as 6 family members of those who died from COVID-19 in Madrid. The interviews were processed through a qualitative, interpretative, categorical analysis.ResultsHealthcare professionals were overexposed to a significant number of deaths under dramatic circumstances. Many of these professionals had difficulties processing their experiences and expressed the need for psychological help. The fact that certain professionals had previous exposure to high mortality rates was not a protective factor. Some coping differences were seen between healthcare professionals and professionals dedicated to the care of the deceased (undertakers or firemen), particularly in the degree to which they personalized the care they provided.ConclusionThe overexposure to death with the circumstances that existed during the state of emergency had a significant emotional impact on the professionals, which can lead to mental health problems in the near term.

show abstract

“…defined as exposed state E-and, unlike other diseases, that susceptible individuals can still get infected with EVD through the contact with dead individuals, if no proper precautions are taken into consideration. Notably, despite controversy, this seems to be also the case of the COVID-19 pandemic [59][60][61][62].…”

Section: An Seird Epidemiological Model With Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the effectiveness of communication strategies as non-pharmaceutical interventions to tackle epidemics

2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

When pharmaceutical interventions are unavailable to deal with an epidemic outbreak, adequate management of communication strategies can be key to reduce the contagion risks. On the one hand, accessibility to trustworthy and timely information, whilst on the other, the adoption of preventive behaviors may be both crucial. However, despite the abundance of communication strategies, their effectiveness has been scarcely evaluated or merely circumscribed to the scrutiny of public affairs. To study the influence of communication strategies on the spreading dynamics of an infectious disease, we implemented a susceptible-exposed-infected-removed-dead (SEIRD) epidemiological model, using an agent-based approach. Agents in our systems can obtain information modulating their behavior from two sources: (i) through the local interaction with other neighboring agents and, (ii) from a central entity delivering information with a certain periodicity. In doing so, we highlight how global information delivered from a central entity can reduce the impact of an infectious disease and how informing even a small fraction of the population has a remarkable impact, when compared to not informing the population at all. Moreover, having a scheme of delivering daily messages makes a stark difference on the reduction of cases, compared to the other evaluated strategies, denoting that daily delivery of information produces the largest decrease in the number of cases. Furthermore, when the information spreading relies only on local interactions between agents, and no central entity takes actions along the dynamics, then the epidemic spreading is virtually independent of the initial amount of informed agents. On top of that, we found that local communication plays an important role in an intermediate regime where information coming from a central entity is scarce. As a whole, our results highlight the importance of proper communication strategies, both accurate and daily, to tackle epidemic outbreaks.

show abstract

Management of corpses during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain

Cited by 6 publications

References 12 publications

Nobody Should Die Alone. Loneliness and a Dignified Death During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Nobody Should Die Alone. Loneliness and a Dignified Death During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“The worst thing that has happened to me”: Healthcare and social services professionals confronting death during the COVID-19 crisis

On the effectiveness of communication strategies as non-pharmaceutical interventions to tackle epidemics

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About