背景:COVID-19影响了全世界的生活。公共卫生指南提倡通过鼓励社会隔离和身体疏远来最大程度地减少感染风险。作为回应,许多卫生服务已经改变了交付方式,增加了远程医疗的使用。我们对维多利亚州一家大型公立医院的放射肿瘤学服务所收集的医院出诊数据进行了审计,2019年1月至9月,2020年同期。目的是辨别COVID-19对预约出勤率的影响,以及不同预约类型的出勤率是否不同。
方法:从放射肿瘤学服务维护的数据库中提取了两个目标时期的出勤数据和预约类型(3383例患者共62,528例预约)。Logistic广义估计方程(GEE)模型与最终模型一起运行,包括COVID-19期(预,期间)以及所有患者和预约特征。
结果:结果表明,2020年的出勤率略有下降(OR=1.13,95%CI1.01-1.25,P=0.026),主要用于非治疗预约,包括后续任命,护士预约,和治疗审查预约。
结论:尽管其他服务略有减少,但肿瘤放射治疗的出勤率在很大程度上不受COVID-19的影响。改变工作实践,特别是远程医疗的使用增加,可能缓和了影响。鉴于专注于一个地点的一项服务,这些结果无法一概而论,未来的研究应密切监测患者和工作人员对通过改进流程提供的服务的满意度。
BACKGROUND: COVID-19 has impacted lives worldwide. Public health guidance has advocated for minimisation of infection risk by encouraging social isolation and physical distancing. In response, many health services have changed delivery practices to increased use of telehealth. We undertook an audit of hospital attendance data collected from a radiation oncology service in a large public hospital in Victoria, Australia between January and September in 2019, and the same period in 2020. The aim was to discern the impact of COVID-19 on attendance at appointments and whether attendance rates differed by appointment type.
METHODS: Attendance data and appointment type for the two targeted periods (a total of 62,528 appointments for 3383 patients) were extracted from the database maintained by the radiation oncology service. Logistic generalised estimating equation (GEE) models were run with the final model including the COVID-19 period (pre, during) and all patient and appointment characteristics.
RESULTS: Results indicated a small decrease in attendance in 2020 (OR = 1.13, 95% CI 1.01-1.25, P = 0.026) with this predominantly reported for the non-treatment appointments, which consisted of follow-up appointments, nurse appointments, and treatment review appointments.
CONCLUSIONS: Attendance for radiation oncology treatment was largely unaffected by COVID-19 although other services experienced slight reductions. Changes to work practices, specifically the increased use of telehealth, may have moderated the impact. Given the focus on one service in one location, it is not possible to generalise these results and future research should closely monitor both patient and staff satisfaction with services delivered via modified processes.