Reestructuración del funcionamiento de la Unidad de Hospitalización a Domicilio del Hospital Universitario Germans Trias i Pujol para el manejo de pacientes COVID y no COVID ingresados durante la pandemia del COVID-19 en España

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic made that the Home Care Unit of the Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital implement strategies for the management of patients admitted with or without COVID-19, optimizing health care resources. Method: A descriptive study of patients with and without COVID-19 was conducted between March 14th and May 31th, 2020. An increase in the number of virtual beds, as well as extension of working hour and incorporation of personnel health (doctor/nurses) was necessary, activating 2 telemedicine platforms for monitoring of patients (COVIDApp for COVID patients and Revita for non-COVID patients). Results: A total of 781 patients referred from the hospitalization, emergency and primary care were included, 584 (74.8%) admitted with a diagnosis of COVID-19 (by PCR) and 197 (25.2%) patients admitted by other pathologies (non-COVID) from the Nord Metropolitan area of Barcelona and Maresme. 24.6% of non-COVID patients and 2.5% of COVID patients were complex chronic patients. The percentage of hospital readmission was higher in non-COVID patients (11.6%) than in COVID patients (4.28%). The percentage of discharges from the UHAD increased to 35.34%. Both platforms allowed for close monitoring of patients. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to optimize and restructure the resources of the health system, with the Telemedicine platforms COVIDApp and Revita as innovative tools.