Close air support: enhancing emergency care in the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken the world by storm and overwhelmed healthcare institutions even in developed countries. In response, clinical staff and resources have been redeployed to the areas of greatest need, that is, intensive care units and emergency rooms (ER), to reinforce front-line manpow...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Emergency Medicine Journal 2020-10, Vol.37 (10), p.642-643
Main Authors: Low, Tze Yi, Mathews, Ian, Lau, Joel Wen-Liang, Ngiam, Kee Yuan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air Ambulances - organization & administration
Coronavirus Infections - epidemiology
Coronavirus Infections - prevention & control
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Disease transmission
Efficiency
Emergency medical care
Emergency Medical Services - organization & administration
Emergency Medicine - organization & administration
Emergency Service, Hospital - organization & administration
Female
Humans
Infections
Male
Medical records
Medical students
Organizational Innovation
Outcome Assessment, Health Care
Pandemics
Pandemics - prevention & control
Pandemics - statistics & numerical data
Patients
Personal protective equipment
Physicians
Pilot Projects
Pneumonia, Viral - epidemiology
Pneumonia, Viral - prevention & control
Program Development
Program Evaluation
Quality Improvement
Report from the Front
Teams
Telemedicine
Workforce - organization & administration
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Request full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The COVID-19 pandemic has taken the world by storm and overwhelmed healthcare institutions even in developed countries. In response, clinical staff and resources have been redeployed to the areas of greatest need, that is, intensive care units and emergency rooms (ER), to reinforce front-line manpower. We introduce the concept of close air support (CAS) to augment ER operations in an efficient, safe and scalable manner. Teams of five comprising two on-site junior ER physicians would be paired with two CAS doctors, who would be off-site but be in constant communication via teleconferencing to render real-time administrative support. They would be supervised by an ER attending. This reduces direct viral exposure to doctors, conserves precious personal protective equipment and allows ER physicians to focus on patient care. Medical students can also be involved in a safe and supervised manner. After 1 month, the average time to patient disposition was halved. General feedback was also positive. CAS improves efficiency and is safe, scalable and sustainable. It has also empowered a previously untapped group of junior clinicians to support front-line medical operations, while simultaneously protecting them from viral exposure. Institutions can consider adopting our novel approach, with modifications made according to their local context.
ISSN:1472-0205
1472-0213
DOI:10.1136/emermed-2020-210148