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- Title
Using Virtual Care to Facilitate Direct Hospital Admissions in Outpatients with Worsening COVID-19 Infection.
- Authors
Lam, Philip W.; Andany, Nisha; Chan, Adrienne K.; Stroud, Lynfa; Shadowitz, Steven; Daneman, Nick
- Abstract
Recognizing emergency department overcrowding during the COVID-19 pandemic, a pathway to facilitate direct admissions for outpatients with worsening COVID-19 infection was created using the COVID-19 expansion to outpatients (COVIDEO) virtual care program. Outpatients appropriate for direct admission had oxygen saturations consistently <92% without severe respiratory distress. Pulse oximeters were proactively delivered to high-risk patients, and patients contacted the program in the event of worsening symptoms or desaturation persistently <92%. Over a 15-month period, 9,116 outpatients were managed by the program, 164 of whom were hospitalized, and 83 of those hospitalized (50.6%) were directly admitted through this pathway. Of those directly admitted, 10 (12.0%) patients required ICU admission, occurring a median of 4 days from hospital admission. The mortality rate among directly admitted patients was 3.6% (3/83). Implementation of a virtual care program to facilitate direct admissions in outpatients with COVID-19 created a safe, efficient, and patient-centered pathway of care.
- Subjects
COVID-19; HOSPITAL admission &; discharge; PULSE oximeters; OUTPATIENTS; INTENSIVE care units; COVID-19 pandemic
- Publication
Telemedicine & e-Health, 2022, Vol 28, Issue 11, p1704
- ISSN
1530-5627
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1089/tmj.2021.0640