Comparing hospital-resource utilization by an enhanced pneumonia surveillance programme for COVID-19 with pre-pandemic pneumonia admissions – a Singaporean hospital’s experience
| Autor: | Wenhui Huang, Gin Tsen Chai, Bernard Yu-Hor Thong, Mark Chan, Brenda Ang, Angela Chow |
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| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Medical Microbiology |
| ISSN: | 1473-5644 0022-2615 |
| Popis: | Introduction. During the early days of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Singapore, Tan Tock Seng Hospital implemented an enhanced pneumonia surveillance (EPS) programme enrolling all patients who were admitted from the Emergency Department (ED) with a diagnosis of pneumonia but not meeting the prevalent COVID-19 suspect case definition. Hypothesis/Gap Statement. There is a paucity of data supporting the implementation of such a programme. Aims. To compare and contrast our hospital-resource utilization of an EPS programme for COVID-19 infection detection with a suitable comparison group. Methodology. We enrolled all patients admitted under the EPS programme from TTSH’s ED from 7 February 2020 (date of EPS implementation) to 20 March 2020 (date of study ethics application) inclusive. We designated a comparison cohort over a similar duration the preceding year. Relevant demographic and clinical data were extracted from the electronic medical records. Results. There was a 3.2 times higher incidence of patients with an admitting diagnosis of pneumonia from the ED in the EPS cohort compared to the comparison cohort (PP=0.160). Within the EPS cohort, stroke and fluid overload occur more frequently as alternative primary diagnoses. Conclusions. Our study successfully evaluated our hospital-resource utilization demanded by our EPS programme in relation to an appropriate comparison group. This helps to inform strategic use of hospital resources to meet the needs of both COVID-19 related services and essential ‘peace-time’ healthcare services concurrently. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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