Open AccessSetting up hospital care provision to patients with COVID-19: lessons learnt at a 2400-bed academic tertiary center in São Paulo, Brazil
Author(s) -
Beatriz Perondi,
Anna Miethke-Morais,
Amanda Cardoso Montal,
Leila Suemi Harima Letaif,
Aluísio Cotrim Segurado
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the brazilian journal of infectious diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1678-4391
pISSN - 1413-8670
DOI - 10.1016/j.bjid.2020.09.005
Subject(s) - covid-19 , public health , tertiary care , health care , medicine , latin americans , public hospital , medical emergency , pandemic , emergency medicine , business , nursing , economic growth , political science , outbreak , virology , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , law , economics , disease
As of August 30, 2020, Brazil ranked second among countries with the highest number of COVID-19 cases, with the city of São Paulo as the national epidemic epicenter. Local public healthcare institutions were challenged to respond to a fast-growing hospital demand, reengineering care provision to optimize clinical outcomes and minimize intra-hospital coronavirus infection. In this paper we describe how the largest public hospital complex in Latin America faced this unprecedented burden, managing severe COVID-19 cases while sustaining specialized care to patients with other conditions. In our strategic plan a 900-bed hospital was exclusively designated for COVID-19 care and continuity of care to those not infected with coronavirus ensured in other inpatient facilities. After 152 days, 4241 patients with severe COVID-19 were hospitalized, 70% of whom have already been discharged, whereas the remaining Institutes of the complex successfully maintained high complexity inpatient and urgent/emergency care to non-COVID-19 patients.