Institute of Radiology, Department of Medicine-DIMED, University of Padova, Via Giustiniani 2, 35100, Padova, Italy.
Department of Directional Hospital Management, Azienda Ospedaliera Di Padova, Padova, Italy.
Radiol Med. 2020 Jul;125(7):691-694. doi: 10.1007/s11547-020-01231-w. Epub 2020 Jun 4.
The current COVID-19 outbreak is requiring a tremendous effort not only regarding the diagnostic and therapeutic approach but also in terms of global management of the delivered care. Hospital administrations had to provide a prompt response to a rapidly evolving emergency characterized by the necessity of giving access to an enormous number of infected patients, guaranteeing appropriate care to patients in need of other types of treatment, and simultaneously preserving the well-being of healthcare providers. To optimize the diagnostic pathway during the current COVID-19 outbreak, the hospital administration of our tertiary center applied a highly structured framework assigning specific tasks to the different units composing the Department of Imaging. In particular, since the beginning of the pandemic, a mobile CT scanner in a truck was rented and became operative for all patients with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 and another CT was assigned for all suspected cases. The success and efficacy of the management applied by our administration is demonstrated by the fact that during the outbreak, the radiological workflow was never interrupted. In fact, despite the national lockdown only a 29.3% decrease of CT scans occurred compared to the previous year. Moreover, none of the healthcare providers of the Department contracted the infection at work. Thus, according to the experience gained in our center, we recommend to all hospital administrations facing the COVID-19 outbreak to promptly adapt their resources, creating precise and safe pathways for their diagnostic units.
当前的 COVID-19 疫情爆发不仅需要在诊断和治疗方法方面做出巨大努力，还需要对所提供的护理进行全球管理。医院管理部门必须对迅速演变的紧急情况做出迅速反应，其特点是需要为大量感染患者提供服务，保证需要其他类型治疗的患者得到适当的护理，同时保护医疗保健提供者的福祉。为了在当前 COVID-19 疫情爆发期间优化诊断途径，我们的三级中心的医院管理部门应用了一个高度结构化的框架，为影像科的不同单位分配了特定的任务。特别是，自疫情开始以来，租用了一辆卡车中的移动 CT 扫描仪，为所有确诊 COVID-19 的患者提供服务，并为所有疑似病例分配了另一台 CT。我们管理部门应用的管理方法的成功和有效性体现在这样一个事实上，即在疫情期间，放射科的工作流程从未中断。事实上，尽管全国实行了封锁，但与前一年相比，CT 扫描的数量仅减少了 29.3%。此外，该部门没有任何医护人员在工作中感染。因此，根据我们中心获得的经验，我们建议所有面临 COVID-19 疫情爆发的医院管理部门迅速调整其资源，为其诊断部门创建精确和安全的途径。
