Alumna contributes to protocols for COVID complications - Press Release issued by Aga Khan University.

Karachi -- June 26, 2020 (PPI-OT)

Following is the text of press release issued by Aga Khan University (AKU)

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Dr Shazia Jamil, MBBS '91, balances twin roles while caring for hospitalised, critically ill COVID patients at Scripps Clinic in San Diego, California, where she serves as head of academic affairs for the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine.

As a specialist in respiratory diseases and critical care issues, she focuses on the immediate needs of the patients before her, but as a clinical educator and a physician scientist she also asks herself how she can apply her experience to raise the quality of care for patients elsewhere.

Dr Jamil and her team have developed comprehensive protocols for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), a leading cause of death in COVID patients. ADRS causes a build-up of fluid in the lungs that makes it difficult for the body to maintain oxygen levels. This can be potentially fatal in COVID patients who can experience a sharp fall in oxygen saturation levels as complications develop.

The treatment protocols prepared by Dr Jamil's team are in use in many hospitals and explain how to use prone positioning, lying on one's stomach, and various strategies of mechanical ventilation to restore oxygen levels and thereby prevent the worsening of the disease.

"The learnings from ICU protocols are adaptable in regions everywhere, including Pakistan," says Dr Jamil. "These recommendations can help decrease ARDS mortalities significantly by tailoring specific measures in severely ill COVID patients."

Dr Jamil and her team have also developed guidelines to prevent and treat blood clotting complications. COVID patients around the world have shown a higher degree of developing blood clots in various parts of the body such as the lungs, brain and legs, which in many cases have caused fatalities. Therefore, COVID-19 patients may require higher doses of blood thinners from the very start as preventive measures and Dr Jamil's guidelines explain how to balance the use of medications to treat this complication.

Dr Jamil is passionate about medical education and is working in a number of positions in the...