Risk of readmission to the emergency department in mild COVID-19 outpatients with telehealth follow-up.

Introduction: To describe patients´ characteristics of confirmed COVID-19 with mild symptoms discharged home from the Emergency Department (ED) and followed using telemedicine, to estimate ED-readmission rates and hospitalization, and to explore associated factors with these clinical outcomes. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study in Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires from June to August 2020, which included patients with mild COVID-19 symptoms, diagnosed with a positive result. Follow-up occurred from discharged until ED-readmission or 14 days. We estimate cumulative incidence using the Kaplan-Meier model and associated factors using logistic regression. Results: We included 1,239 patients, with a median of 41 years and 53.82% male. A total of 167 patients were readmitted to the ED within 14 days, with a global incidence rate of 13.08% (95%CI 11.32-15.08). Of these, 83 required hospitalization (median time from diagnosis 4.98 days), 5.98% was not related to any COVID-19 complication, and five patients died. After adjustment by confounders (age ≥65, sex, diabetes, hypertension, former smoking, active smoking, fever, diarrhea, and oxygen saturation), we found significant associations: former smoking (adjusted OR 2.09, 95% CI 1.31-3.34, p0 .002), fever (aOR 1.56, 95% CI 1.07-2.28, p0.002) and oxygen saturation (aOR 0.82, 95% CI 0.71-0.95, p0.009). Conclusion: The 13% rate of ED-readmission during 14 days of follow-up of mild symptomatic COVID-19 patients initially managed as outpatients with telehealth is highly significant in hospital management, quality performance, and patient safety.

Introducción: Describir las características de los pacientes COVID-19 con síntomas leves dados de alta desde la Central de Emergencias de Adultos (CEA) y seguidos en forma ambulatoria mediante telemedicina. Estimar las tasas de re-consulta a CEA y hospitalización, y explorar los factores asociados a estos desenlaces. Métodos: Cohorte retrospectiva de Junio a Agosto 2020 en el Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, que incluyó personas COVID-19 con síntomas leves. Se siguieron durante 14 días hasta la ocurrencia de re-consulta en CEA y/o hospitalización. Se utilizaron modelos de Kaplan-Meier y regresión logística. Resultados: De un total de 1.239 pacientes, con una mediana de 41 años y 53,82% varones, 167 pacientes re-consultaron a CEA, con una tasa de incidencia global a los 14 días del 13,08% (IC del 95% 11,32 a 15,08). De estos, 83 requirieron hospitalización (media de 4,98 días), el 6% no se relaciona con COVID-19 y 5 pacientes fallecieron. Después del ajuste por factores confundidores (edad ≥65, sexo, diabetes, hipertensión, ex tabaquismo, tabaquismo activo, fiebre, diarrea y saturación de oxígeno), encontramos asociaciones significativas: tabaquismo anterior (ORa 2,09, IC95% 1,31-3,34, p0=0,002), fiebre (ORa 1,56, IC95% 1,07-2,28, p=0,002) y saturación de oxígeno (ORa 0,82, IC95% 0,71-0,95, p=0,009). Conclusión: La tasa del 13% de re-consulta a CEA durante 14 días de seguimiento resultó muy significativa para la gestión hospitalaria, la calidad del desempeño y la seguridad del paciente.

Smart about medications (SAM): a digital solution to enhance medication management following hospital discharge.

OBJECTIVE: To outline the development of a software solution to improve medication management after hospital discharge, including its design, data sources, intrinsic features, and to evaluate the usability and the perception of use by end-users. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients were directly involved in the development using a User Center Design (UCD) approach. We conducted usability interviews prior to hospital discharge, before a user started using the application. A technology acceptance questionnaire was administered to evaluate user self-perception after 2 weeks of use. RESULTS: The following features were developed; pill identification, patient-friendly drug information leaflet, side effect checker, and interaction checker, adherence monitoring and alerts, weekly medication schedule, daily pill reminders, messaging service, and patient medication reviews. The usability interviews show a 98.3% total success rate for all features, severity (on a scale of 1-4) 1.4 (SD 0.79). Regarding the self-perception of use (1-7 agreement scale) the 3 highest-rated domains were: (1) perceived ease of use 5.65 (SD 2.02), (2) output quality 5.44 (SD 1.65), and (3) perceived usefulness 5.29 (SD 2.11). DISCUSSION: Many medication management apps solutions have been created and most of them have not been properly evaluated. SAM (Smart About Medications) includes the user perspective, integration between a province drug database and the pharmacist workflow in real time. Its features are not limited to maintaining a medication list through manual entry. CONCLUSION: We can conclude after evaluation that the application is usable and has been self-perceived as easy to use by end-users. Future studies are required to assess the health benefits associated with its use.

Emergency department visits and hospital readmissions in an Argentine health system.

BACKGROUND AND GOAL OF STUDY: The scope of health in the Sustainable Development Goals is much broader than the Millennium Development Goals, spanning functions such as health-system access and quality of care. Hospital readmission rate and ED-visits within 30 days from discharge are considered low-cost quality indicators. This work assesses an indicator of quality of care in a tertiary referral hospital in Argentina, using data available from clinical records. PURPOSE: To estimate the rate of ED-visits and the hospital readmission rate (HRR) after a first hospitalization (First-H), and to identify associated factors. METHODS: This retrospective cohort included patients who had a First-H in Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires between 2014-2015. Follow-up occurred from discharge until ED-visit, readmission, death, disaffiliation from health insurance, or 13 months. We present HRR at 30 days and ED-visits rate at 72 h, using the Cox proportional-hazards regression model to explore associated factors, and reporting adjusted hazard ratios (HR) with their respective 95 %CI. RESULTS: The study comprised 10,598 hospitalizations (median age was 68 years). Of these, 5966 had at least one consultation to the ED during follow up, resulting in a 24 h rate of consultations to ED of 1.51 % (95 %CI 1.29-1.72); at 48 h 3.18 % (95 %CI 2.86-3.54); at 72 h 4.71 % (95 %CI 4.32-5.13). In multivariable models, factors associated for 72 h ED-visits were: age (aHR 1.06), male (aHR 1.14), Charlson Comorbidity Index (aHR 1.16), unscheduled hospitalization (aHR 1.39), prior consultation with the ED (aHR 1.08) and long hospital stay (aHR 1.39). Meanwhile, 2345 patients had at least one hospital readmission (98 % unscheduled), resulting a 24 h rate of 0.5 % (95 %CI 0.42-0.71), at 48 h 0.98 % (95 %CI 0.80-1.18), at 72 h 1.4 % (95 %CI 1.2-1.6); at 30 days 7.7 % (95 %CI 7.2-8.2); at 90 days 13 % (95 %CI 12.4-13.8); and one-year 22.5 % (95 %CI 21.7-23.4). Associated factors for HRR at 30 days were: age (HR 1.16), male (HR 1.09), Charlson comorbidities score (HR 1.27), social service requirement during First-H (HR 1.37), unscheduled First-H (HR 1.16), previous ED-visits (HR 1.03) and length of stay (HR 1.08). CONCLUSION: Priorities efforts to improve must include greater attention to patients' readiness prior discharge, to explore causes of preventable readmissions, and better support for patient self-management.

Asynchronous Dermatology Teleconsultations Using a Personal Health Record.

Health information and communication technologies such as telemedicine provide alternatives for patient and physician communication. An increasing number of patients, providers and institutions are using this technologies to seek or provide health care. Asynchronous consultations requires a service of storing and forwarding health related information by the patient to the specialist physician or other healthcare provider. Dermatology is one of the major medical specialties in which telemedicine as proven benefits. There are many described deployments of asynchronous teleconsultation for dermatology, but in most cases telemedicine applications work as stand alone solutions. The present work describes the design and deployment of an asynchronous dermatological teleconsultation service which uses the interaction of the Electronic Health Record and the Personal Health Record in a high complexity university hospital.

Automatic Loading of Problems Using a Comorbidities Subset: One Step to Organize and Maintain the Patient's Problem List.

An accurate and updated problems' list is critical in a problem-oriented Electronic Health Record (EHR). The lack of organization and maintenance of the problems limits its value. Certain problems have a larger effect on the clinical evolution of the patient, these are known as Comorbidities. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of the automatic loading of comorbidities in the organization and maintenance of inpatient problems' list using a comorbidities subset.

Characterizing comorbidities, a step to organize the patient's problems list / Caracterizando comorbidades, um passo para organizar a lista de problemas

Uma lista de problemas precisa e atualizada é essencial em um Registro Eletrônico em Saúde (RES) orientada a problemas. A falta de organização e categorização dos problemas limitam o resultado. Há certos problemas que afetam mais a evolução clínica do paciente, o que denominamos comorbidades. OBJETIVOS: O propósito deste artigo é caracterizar o conceito de comorbidade; bem como, classificar e identificar as comorbidades. MÉTODOS: Realizamos uma busca bibliográfica para caracterizar o conceito de comorbilidade. Posteriormente analisamos a RES do Hospital de Buenos Aires desde 1998 a 2015. Todos os problemas registrados nas epícrises como comorbidades foram tomados para análise. RESULTADOS: 20.849 ID-conceitos foram registrados e identificados inicialmente na epícrises. 90% foi levado para análise individual. 614 conceitos foram identificados como comorbidades (80,24% de registros). CONCLUSÕES: A maioria dos problemas analisados foram caracterizados como comorbidades, condizendo com a observação que gerou uma lista com as comorbidades mais frequentes.(AU)

An accurate and updated problems list is critical in a problem oriented Electronic Health Record (EHR). Thelack of organization and categorization of the problems limits the value of the list. There are certain problems that affect more than others the clinical evolution of the patient, these are known as comorbidities. OBJECTIVS: Characterize the comorbidity concept and identify, and classify the comorbidities. METHODS: A literature search of available definitions to characterize the concept "comorbidity". Then we analyzed theEHR in a Hospital from 1998 to 2015. All recorded problems as comorbidities conditions in patient discharge summaries were taken for analysis. RESULTS: 20,849 ID-concepts were initially obtained as comorbidities in patient discharge summaries. The 90% more frequent were taken for individual analysis. 614 ID-concepts were identied as comorbidities (80.24% of all records). CONCLUSIONS: Most of the problems analyzed were characterized as comorbidities making a list of the most frequently recorded.(AU)