Literature Review and Evidence Collection
A literature review was performed by one author, searching for all
published English-language literature reporting on clinical practice
guidelines pertaining to tracheostomy in the context of COVID-19. A
search strategy was employed with the following search strings: “covid
OR covid-19 OR coronavirus” with “tracheostomy OR tracheotomy OR
tracheostomy change” in the last 5 years. Grey literature (literature
that is not commercially published) was identified by searching the
websites of governmental health agencies, professional associations, and
other medical societies. Google search engine was used to search for
additional information. These searches were supplemented by references
of relevant individual articles. Results were limited to articles in the
English language. After the completed search, a total list of records
was obtained, and duplicates removed. A final list of full text articles
was then compiled, and one author independently screened each article.