Technology-enabled virtual ward for COVID management of the elderly and immunocompromised in Singapore: a descriptive cohort.

BACKGROUND: To address the hospital bed demand for Delta and Omicron surges in Singapore, the National University Health System (NUHS) developed a COVID Virtual Ward to relieve bed pressures on its three acute hospitals-National University Hospital, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, Alexandra Hospital. To serve a multilingual population, the COVID Virtual Ward featuring protocolized teleconsultation of high-risk patients, use of a vital signs chatbot, supplemented by home visits where necessary. This study aims to evaluate the safety, outcomes and utilisation of the Virtual Ward as a scalable response to COVID-19 surges. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study of all patients admitted to the COVID Virtual Ward between 23 September to 9 November 2021. Patients were defined as "early discharge" if they were referred from inpatient COVID-19 wards and "admission avoidance" if they were referred directly from primary care or emergency services. Patient demographics, utilisation measures and clinical outcomes were extracted from the electronic health record system. The primary outcomes were escalation to hospital and mortality. Use of the vital signs chatbot was evaluated by examining compliance levels, need for automated reminders and alerts triggered. Patient experience was evaluated using data extracted from a quality improvement feedback form. RESULTS: 238 patients were admitted to the COVID Virtual Ward from 23 September to 9 November, of whom 42% were male, 67.6% of Chinese ethnicity. 43.7% were over the age of 70, 20.5% were immunocompromised, and 36.6% were not fully vaccinated. 17.2% of patients were escalated to hospital and 2.1% of patients died. Patients who were escalated to hospital were more likely to be immunocompromised or to have a higher ISARIC 4C-Mortality Score. There were no missed deteriorations. All patients received teleconsults (median of 5 teleconsults per patient, IQR 3-7). 21.4% of patients received home visits. 77.7% of patients engaged with the vital signs chatbot, with a compliance rate of 84%. All patients would recommend the programme to others in their situation. CONCLUSIONS: Virtual Wards are a scalable, safe and patient-centered strategy to care for high risk COVID-19 patients at home. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NA.

Effect of a multidisciplinary ward-based intervention on end-of-life care for general medicine patients.

OBJECTIVE: Providing good end-of-life (EOL) care for noncancer patients has been made a national priority in Singapore. A combined medical and nursing ward-based intervention known as the EOL care plan was piloted in a general medicine ward at our institution, aiming to guide key aspects of EOL care. The aim of this study is to assess the EOL care plan's effect on EOL care for general medicine patients. METHOD: We conducted a retrospective cohort study on inpatients who died in a general ward under the discipline "General Medicine" from May to October 2019. We collected data around symptom management, rationalization of care and communication with families. The primary analysis compared care received by patients who died in the pilot ward with that of a control group of patients who died in other wards. RESULTS: In total, 112 records were included in the analysis. Pain assessment was more common in the pilot ward compared with the control group (35.3% vs. 6.3%, p < 0.001), as were anti-psychotic prescriptions for delirium (64.7% vs. 24.4%, p = 0.001). Fewer patients received blood glucose monitoring in the last 48 h of life in the pilot ward (69.5% vs. 35.3%, p = 0.007). There were also less frequent parameters monitoring in the pilot ward (p < 0.004). SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS: The implementation of the EOL care plan was associated with process-level indicators of better EOL care, suggesting that it could have a significant positive impact when implemented on a wider scale.

Treating acutely ill patients at home: Data from Singapore.

INTRODUCTION: Hospital-at-home programmes are well described in the literature but not in Asia. We describe a home-based inpatient substitutive care programme in Singapore, with clinical and patient-reported outcomes. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients admitted to a hospital-at-home programme from September 2020 to September 2021. Suitable patients, who otherwise required hospitalisation, were admitted to the programme. They were from inpatient wards, emergency department and community nursing teams in the western part of Singapore, where a multidisciplinary team provided hospital-level care at home. Electronic health record data were extracted from all patients admitted to the programme. Patient satisfaction surveys were conducted post-discharge. RESULTS: A total of 108 patients enrolled. Mean age was 67.9 (standard deviation 16.7) years, and 46% were male. The main diagnoses were skin and soft tissue infections (35%), urinary tract infections (29%) and fluid overload (18%). Median length of stay was 4 (interquartile range 3-7) days. Seven patients were escalated back to the hospital, of whom 2 died after escalation. One patient died at home. There was 1 case of adverse drug reaction and 1 fall at home, and no cases of hospital-acquired infections. Patient satisfaction rates were high and 94% of contactable patients would choose to participate again. CONCLUSION: Hospital-at-home programmes appear to be safe and feasible alternatives to inpatient care in Singapore. Further studies are warranted to compare clinical outcomes and cost to conventional inpatient care.

Remote monitoring of marginalised populations affected by COVID-19: a retrospective review.

OBJECTIVES: The COVID-19 outbreak in Singapore has largely centred around migrant worker dormitories, comprising over 90% of all cases in the country. Dormitories are home to a culturally and linguistically distinct, low-income population, without on-site healthcare after-hours. The primary objective of this study was to assess the engagement and utilisation of a simple, low-cost, accessible, mobile health solution for remote self-reporting of vital parameters in dormitory residents with COVID-19. DESIGN: Retrospective review of medical care. SETTING: Two large migrant worker dormitories with a combined population of 31 546. PARTICIPANTS: All COVID-19-affected residents housed in dormitories during the study period. INTERVENTION: All residents were taught to use a chat assistant to self-report their temperature, heart rate and oxygen saturations. Results flowed into a dashboard, which alerted clinicians of abnormal results. OUTCOMES: The primary outcome measure was engagement rate. This was derived from the total number of residents who registered on the platform over the total number of COVID-19-affected residents in the dormitories during the study period. Secondary outcome measures included outcomes of the alerts and subsequent escalations of care. RESULTS: 800 of the 931 COVID-19-affected residents (85.9%) engaged with the platform to log a total of 12 511 discrete episodes of vital signs. Among 372 abnormal readings, 96 teleconsultations were initiated, of which 7 (1.8%) were escalated to emergency services and 18 (4.9%) were triaged to earlier physical medical review on-site. CONCLUSIONS: A chat-assistant-based self-reporting platform is an effective and safe community-based intervention to monitor marginalised populations with distinct cultural and linguistic backgrounds, living communally and affected by COVID-19. Lessons learnt from this approach may be applied to develop safe and cost-effective telemedicine solutions across similar settings.