Identifying the effects of an upgraded 'fever clinic' on COVID-19 control and the workload of emergency department: retrospective study in a tertiary hospital in China.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

COVID-19 started spreading widely in China in January 2020. Outpatient fever clinics (FCs), instituted during the SARS epidemic in 2003, were upgraded to serve for COVID-19 screening and prevention of disease transmission in large tertiary hospitals in China. FCs were hoped to relieve some of the healthcare burden from emergency departments (EDs). We aimed to evaluate the effect of upgrading the FC system on rates of nosocomial COVID-19 infection and ED patient attendance at Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH).

Design

A retrospective cohort study.

Participants

A total of 6365 patients were screened in the FC.

Methods

The FC of PUMCH was upgraded on 20 January 2020. We performed a retrospective study of patients presenting to the FC between 1

SUBMITTER: Wang J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7440187 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature