Affiliation:
1. Infectious Disease Advanced Trainee Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service Birtinya Queensland Australia
2. Infectious Disease Physician Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service Birtinya Queensland Australia
3. Respiratory and Sleep Physician Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service Birtinya Queensland Australia
4. Virtual Care Clinical Lead Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service Birtinya Queensland Australia
5. Infectious Disease Physician and Medical Microbiologist Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service Birtinya Queensland Australia
Abstract
AbstractBackgroundVirtual ward (VW) models of care established during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic provided safe and equitable provision of ambulatory care for low‐risk patients; however, little is known about patients who require escalation of care to hospitals from VWs.AimTo assess our VW model of care and describe the characteristics of patients admitted to the hospital from the VW.MethodsObservational study of all patients admitted to a tertiary hospital COVID‐19 VW between 1 December 2021 and 30 June 2022. Utilisation and epidemiological characteristics were assessed for all patients while additional demographics, assessments, treatments and outcomes were assessed for patients admitted to the hospital from the VW.ResultsOf 9494 patient admissions, 269 (2.83%) patients identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and 1774 (18.69%) were unvaccinated. The median length of stay was 5.10 days and the mean Index of Relative Socio‐economic Advantage and Disadvantage decile was 5.73. One hundred sixty (1.69%) patients were admitted to the hospital from the VW, of which 25 were adults admitted to medical wards. Of this cohort, prominent comorbidities were obesity, hypertension, asthma and frailty, while the main symptoms on admission to the VW were cough, fatigue, nausea and sore throat. High Pandemic Respiratory Infection Emergency System Triage (PRIEST), Veterans Health Administration COVID‐19 (VACO), COVID Home Safely Now (CHOSEN) and 4C mortality scores existed for those readmitted.ConclusionsThis VW model of care was both safe and effective when applied to a broad socioeconomic population during the COVID‐19 pandemic. While readmission to the hospital was low, this study identified key characteristics of such presentations, which may assist future triaging, escalation and resource allocation within VWs during the COVID‐19 pandemic and beyond.