Journal
QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN HEALTH CARE
Volume 32, Issue 1, Pages 46-52Publisher
LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS
DOI: 10.1097/QMH.0000000000000351
Keywords
COVID-19; disaster risk; emergency department; management; organization
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This study examines the organizational and managerial tools implemented in 5 academic EDs in a heavily affected region in France during the COVID-19 pandemic. The EDs focused on early detection, isolation measures, and tailored strategies based on the real-time PCR COVID-19 positivity rate. The crisis highlighted hospitals' adaptability and coordination in reallocating resources and optimizing patient pathways.
The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has imposed unforeseen and unprecedented constraints on emergency departments (EDs). In this study, we detail the organizational and managerial tools recently implemented among 5 academic EDs in a French region particularly affected by COVID-19 and analyze how EDs responded to the COVID-19-related disease burden during different phases of the epidemic. Initially, they focused on the early detection of suspected cases by identifying 3 predominant COVID-19 syndromes. During this diagnostic process, patients were placed in respiratory isolation (facial mask before triage) and droplet isolation (ED rooms). A 3-level strategy for triage, clinical pathways in the EDs, and the organization of hospital spaces was based on the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) COVID-19 positivity rate, with ED strategies adapted to the exigencies of each level. This crisis demonstrated hospitals' adaptability and capacity to mobilize in the face of new risks, with hospitals and EDs coordinating their management to reallocate resources, optimize interoperability, and rethink patient pathways. This report on their processes may assist hospitals and EDs in areas currently spared by the new variants.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available