A study of the evacuation and allocation of hospital beds during the Covid-19 epidemic: a case study in Iran.

BACKGROUND: Shortage of resources, such as hospital beds, needed for health care especially in times of crisis can be a serious challenge for many countries. Currently, there is no suitable model for optimal allocation of beds in different hospital wards. The Data Envelopment Analysis method (DEA) has been used in the present study to examine the evacuation and allocation of hospital beds during the covid-19 pandemic in order to contribute to effective planning for fighting the spread the covid-19 virus. METHODS: The present study was conducted in two stages in hospitals affiliated with Urmia University of Medical Sciences (UUMS) in 2021. First, the number of excess beds was determined by calculating the technical efficiency using the DEA method and Deap2.1 software. To reallocate excess beds to covid-19 patients, the types of hospital wards were considered. As a result of this analysis, the inefficient hospitals with excess beds in different wards, which could be used for covid-19 patients with more serious symptoms, were identified. RESULTS: The results of the study show that the average technical efficiency of the studied hospitals was 0.603. These hospitals did not operate efficiently in 2021 and their current output can be produced with less than 61% of the used input. Also, the potential of these hospitals, over a period of 1 year, for the evacuation of beds and reallocation of them to covid-19 patients was calculated to be 1781 beds, 450 of which belonged to general wards and 1331 belonged to specialized wards. CONCLUSIONS: The DEA method can be used in the allocation of resources in hospitals. Depending on the type of hospital wards and the health condition of patients, this method can help policy-makers identify hospitals with the best potential but less emergency services for the purpose of reallocation of resources, which can help reduce the severe effects of crises on health resources.

T3P-Promoted Synthesis of a Series of 2-Aryl-3-phenyl-2,3-dihydro-4H-pyrido[3,2-e][1,3]thiazin-4-ones and Their Activity against the Kinetoplastid Parasite Trypanosoma brucei.

A series of fourteen 2-aryl-3-phenyl-2,3-dihydro-4H-pyrido[3,2-e][1,3]thiazin-4-ones was prepared at room temperature by T3P-mediated cyclization of N-phenyl-C-aryl imines with thionicotinic acid, two difficult substrates. The reactions were operationally simple, did not require specialized equipment or anhydrous solvents, could be performed as either two or three component reactions, and gave moderate-good yields as high as 63%. This provides ready access to N-phenyl compounds in this family, which have been generally difficult to prepare. As part of the study, the first crystal structure of neutral thionicotinic acid is also reported, and showed the molecule to be in the form of the thione tautomer. Additionally, the synthesized compounds were tested against T. brucei, the causative agent of Human African Sleeping Sickness. Screening at 50 µM concentration showed that five of the compounds strongly inhibited growth and killed parasites.