The COVID-19 challenge to cardiac electrophysiologists: optimizing resources at a referral center.
J Interv Card Electrophysiol
; 59(2): 321-327, 2020.
Article
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| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32425656
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE:
To describe how a referral center for cardiac electrophysiology (EP) rapidly changed to comply with the ongoing COVID-19 healthcare emergency.METHODS:
We present retrospective data about the modification of daily activities at our EP unit, following the pandemic outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in Italy. In particular, in the context of a pre-existing "hub-and-spoke" network, we describe how procedure types and volumes have changed in the last 3 months.RESULTS:
Since our institution was selected as a COVID-19 referral center, the entire in-hospital activity was reorganized to assist more than 1000 COVID-positive cases. Only urgent EP procedures, including ventricular tachycardia ablation and extraction of infected devices, were both maintained and optimized to meet the needs of external hospitals. In addition, most of the non-urgent EP procedures were postponed. Finally, following prompt internal reorganization, both outpatient clinics and on-call services underwent significant modification, by integrating telemedicine support whenever applicable.CONCLUSION:
We presented the fast reorganization of an EP referral center during the ongoing COVID-19 healthcare emergency. Our hub-and-spoke model may be useful for other centers, aiming at a cost-effective management of resources in the context of a global crisis.
Texto completo:
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Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Interv Card Electrophysiol
Asunto de la revista:
CARDIOLOGIA
Año:
2020
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Italia