Providing uninterrupted care during COVID-19 pandemic: experience from Beijing Tiantan Hospital

Document Type

Article

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has already stressed the healthcare system in the world. Many hospitals have been overwhelmed by the large number of patients with COVID-19. Due to the shortage of equipment and personnel and the highly contagious nature of COVID-19, many other healthcare services are on hold. However, at Beijing Tiantan Hospital, a rapid response system has been in place so that routine care is not interrupted. We, therefore, would like to share our hospital-wide prevention and management policy during this pandemic to help other healthcare systems to function in this crisis. METHOD: Tiantan hospital is one of the leading neuroscience institutions in the world. With 1650 beds, its annual inpatient admission exceeds 30 000 patients. Its COVID-19 rapid response policy was reviewed for its functionality. RESULTS: There are nine key components of this policy: an incident management system; a comprehensive infection prevention and control, outpatient triage and flow system; a designated fever clinic; patient screening and administration; optimised surgical operations, enhanced nucleic acid testing; screening of returning employees; and a supervision and feedback system. In addition, a specific protocol was designed for treating patients with acute stroke. CONCLUSION: A comprehensive policy is helpful to protect the employee from infection and to provide quality and uninterrupted care to all who need these, including patients with acute ischaemic stroke.

Medical Subject Headings

Beijing; Betacoronavirus (pathogenicity); Brain Ischemia (diagnosis, therapy); COVID-19; Coronavirus Infections (diagnosis, therapy, transmission, virology); Critical Pathways; Delivery of Health Care, Integrated; Health Services Needs and Demand; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Humans; Infection Control (methods); Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional (prevention & control); Infectious Disease Transmission, Professional-to-Patient (prevention & control); Needs Assessment; Occupational Exposure (prevention & control); Occupational Health; Pandemics; Patient Safety; Pneumonia, Viral (diagnosis, therapy, transmission, virology); SARS-CoV-2; Stroke (diagnosis, therapy); Triage

Publication Date

6-1-2020

Publication Title

Stroke and vascular neurology

E-ISSN

2059-8696

Volume

5

Issue

2

First Page

180

Last Page

184

PubMed ID

32385131

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1136/svn-2020-000400

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