Authors (including presenting author) :
Chan DCW (1) Wong WH (1) Leung SNS (1) Leung LHT (1) Lui SYT (1), Lai LS (1), Lau SF (1), Hon HC (1), Yuen KT (1) Cheng ACK (1)
Affiliation :
(1) Department of Oncology, Princess Margaret Hospital
Introduction :
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the healthcare system has faced numerous challenges with great complexities requiring extreme measures to respond quickly and effectively to the devastating effects of COVID-19. While frontline healthcare workers struggle to serve their patients and communities, hospital officials are trying hard to resolve operational issues and manage scarcity of resources to keep the healthcare system resilient during the crisis. It is imperative for the government and healthcare officials to start planning ahead to return the society back to operational health. Responding to changing preferences and expectations from the community during the coronavirus pandemic, the process of recovery may need to contain the four Rs: responding, rebounding, rebuilding, and reimagining. Each R has a lot of work behind it. Responding is pretty obvious; it’s what we’re doing now. When the hospital admissions and clinic attendances have come down, how should we rebound to structure and deliver services because of these fundamental changes? We have rebuilt our SOPD attendance system to triage patients with high risk of contracting Covid19 eg. those residing in residential buildings with multiple Covid19 affected patients and to repeat their Deep Throat Saliva (DTS) test so as to prevent environmental contamination at a high volume tertiary hospital cancer center and protect other attending patients who are potentially immunocompromised.
Objectives :
To enhance social distancing and to prevent cross infections of Covid19 in a high volume oncology center in Hong Kong
Methodology :
By using a computer algorithm, the system would screen for Oncology SOPD and Radiotherapy Suite attendees who reside in a residential complex with multiple Covid19 patients. The clinic lead would review each screen detected patient and review their compulsory DTS test results and arrange the patient for deferral of follow-up if required together with one more DTS prior to returning for follow-up.
Result & Outcome :
Each day, several (up to 5) potential SOPD or Radiotherapy Suite patients were screened out, and their appointments adjusted to ensure staff and patient safety at the high volume cancer center at Princess Margaret Hospital. The triage system aids to enable the smooth continuation of operations of the oncology center at Princess Margaret Hospital during the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure the safety of all our patients and staff alike. Triage protocols, multidisciplinary integrated clinics, and telemedicine should be the new status quo.
