Information technology challenges in a public hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic

In the past few decades, academic healthcare centers have positively impacted medical care quality by establishing well-structured information technology (IT) departments to address medical and research issues globally (1,3). However, information technology is not a panacea to solve all problems concerning healthcare; many aspects of applying IT need to be assessed, such as safety, organization, and environment (6). Nevertheless, IT possesses great potential for creatively resolving and answering the challenges that risky situations pose to society. The COVID-19 pandemic is an extraordinary challenge since, unlike the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918, which took approximately a year to spread worldwide, its infection disseminated in a few weeks (5). COVID-19, an acute viral infection caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), was initially detected in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Due to the virus’s high transmissibility and the severity of the disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a public health emergency of international concern under the International Health Regulations (2005) (8). Healthcare systems around the world utilized various resources, such as science and technology, in preparation to handle the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, several digital technologies that assisted in tackling COVID-19 infections were mature enough at the start of 2020 to be applied to the field of medicine. Ting et al. (12) divided these digital technologies into four groups: Internet of Things (IoT), big data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and blockchain technology. The Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo (HCFMUSP)—the most extensive university-affiliated hospital in São Paulo City, Brazil— played an essential role in diagnosing and treating the highly complex COVID-19 cases. Since the end of March 2020, the hospital has reserved one of its largest buildings— with 500 beds and 300 adult intensive care unit (ICU) beds— to treat COVID-19 patients exclusively. Furthermore, all of the hospital’s sectors were utilized to deal with COVID-19 patients. According to Ting et al. (12), the HCFMUSP utilized two of the aforementioned four digital technology groups, namely IoT and AI, in addition to telemedicine. Several departments were integral to effectively applying these resources: the IT department, Núcleo Especializado de Tecnologia de Informação (NETI), which manages the central administration systems and electronic health records; the Clinical Engineering Department, which provides and maintains the highly technological facilities and operational services at the hospital; the Clinical Director’s Office, which promotes the development of health actions and services, supports professional training, and strives for comprehensive patient care; and lastly, the Crisis Management Committee, which was mobilized to assist with strategic planning (7,11,13).