Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, USA.
Blood Bank/Transfusion Medicine, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
J Clin Apher. 2024 Jun;39(3):e22109. doi: 10.1002/jca.22109.
The COVID-19 pandemic affected healthcare delivery across all specialties including apheresis. To describe the changes in apheresis service practices that occurred during the pandemic, the American Society for Apheresis (ASFA) Apheresis Medicine Attending Physician Subcommittee conducted a survey study.
A 32-question survey was designed and distributed to 400 ASFA physician members on September 7, 2022. Attending physicians responded to questions about whether and how apheresis service practices changed during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with the time period prior to the pandemic in terms of: (1) procedure types and volumes, (2) patient consultation workflow, and (3) the use of telemedicine. Descriptive analyses were reported as number and frequency of responses.
The survey response rate was 13.8% (55/400). Of these respondents, 96.4% (53/55) were attending physicians. The majority of respondents (42/53, 79.2%) indicated that the types of procedures performed during COVID-19 compared to pre-pandemic did not change. Most frequently for apheresis procedure volume, respondents reported: no change in their monthly inpatient volume (21/47, 44.7%) and a decrease in their monthly outpatient volume (28/46, 60.9%). Prior to COVID-19, 75.0% (30/40) of respondents performed consultations at bedside for inpatients and 67.4% (29/43) performed consultations at bedside for outpatients. Bedside consultations decreased in both settings during the pandemic but were still most frequently performed by attending physicians. At the same time, the use of telemedicine increased for 15.4% of survey respondents during COVID-19.
Some, but not all, respondents observed or made changes to their apheresis service during the COVID-19 pandemic. A subset of changes, such as increased utilization of telemedicine, may persist.
COVID-19 大流行影响了所有专业的医疗保健服务，包括血浆分离术。为了描述大流行期间血浆分离术服务实践的变化，美国血浆分离学会（ASFA）血浆分离医学主治医生小组委员会进行了一项调查研究。
2022 年 9 月 7 日，设计并向 400 名 ASFA 内科医生成员分发了一份 32 个问题的调查问卷。主治医生根据以下方面回答了有关 COVID-19 大流行期间与大流行前相比，血浆分离术服务实践是否以及如何发生变化的问题：（1）程序类型和数量；（2）患者咨询工作流程；（3）远程医疗的使用。描述性分析以答复的数量和频率报告。
调查回复率为 13.8%（55/400）。在这些回复者中，96.4%（53/55）是主治医生。大多数回复者（42/53，79.2%）表示，与大流行前相比，在 COVID-19 期间进行的程序类型没有改变。大多数情况下，对于血浆分离术程序量，回复者报告：他们的每月住院量没有变化（21/47，44.7%），每月门诊量减少（28/46，60.9%）。在 COVID-19 之前，75.0%（30/40）的回复者为住院患者进行床边咨询，67.4%（29/43）为门诊患者进行床边咨询。大流行期间，这两种情况下的床边咨询都减少了，但仍然是主治医生最常进行的。与此同时，在 COVID-19 期间，15.4%的调查回复者增加了远程医疗的使用。
一些，但不是所有，回复者在 COVID-19 大流行期间观察到或对他们的血浆分离术服务进行了更改。一些更改，例如增加远程医疗的使用，可能会持续存在。
