TY - JOUR
T1 - The COVID-19 challenge to cardiac electrophysiologists
T2 - optimizing resources at a referral center
AU - Mazzone, Patrizio
AU - Peretto, Giovanni
AU - Radinovic, Andrea
AU - Limite, Luca Rosario
AU - Marzi, Alessandra
AU - Sala, Simone
AU - Cireddu, Manuela
AU - Vegara, Pasquale
AU - Baratto, Francesca
AU - Paglino, Gabriele
AU - D’Angelo, Giuseppe
AU - Cianfanelli, Lorenzo
AU - Altizio, Savino
AU - Lipartiti, Felicia
AU - Frontera, Antonio
AU - Bisceglia, Caterina
AU - Gulletta, Simone
AU - Bella, Paolo Della
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Purpose: To describe how a referral center for cardiac electrophysiology (EP) rapidly changed to comply with the ongoing COVID-19 healthcare emergency. Methods: We present retrospective data about the modification of daily activities at our EP unit, following the pandemic outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in Italy. In particular, in the context of a pre-existing “hub-and-spoke” network, we describe how procedure types and volumes have changed in the last 3 months. Results: Since our institution was selected as a COVID-19 referral center, the entire in-hospital activity was reorganized to assist more than 1000 COVID-positive cases. Only urgent EP procedures, including ventricular tachycardia ablation and extraction of infected devices, were both maintained and optimized to meet the needs of external hospitals. In addition, most of the non-urgent EP procedures were postponed. Finally, following prompt internal reorganization, both outpatient clinics and on-call services underwent significant modification, by integrating telemedicine support whenever applicable. Conclusion: We presented the fast reorganization of an EP referral center during the ongoing COVID-19 healthcare emergency. Our hub-and-spoke model may be useful for other centers, aiming at a cost-effective management of resources in the context of a global crisis.
AB - Purpose: To describe how a referral center for cardiac electrophysiology (EP) rapidly changed to comply with the ongoing COVID-19 healthcare emergency. Methods: We present retrospective data about the modification of daily activities at our EP unit, following the pandemic outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in Italy. In particular, in the context of a pre-existing “hub-and-spoke” network, we describe how procedure types and volumes have changed in the last 3 months. Results: Since our institution was selected as a COVID-19 referral center, the entire in-hospital activity was reorganized to assist more than 1000 COVID-positive cases. Only urgent EP procedures, including ventricular tachycardia ablation and extraction of infected devices, were both maintained and optimized to meet the needs of external hospitals. In addition, most of the non-urgent EP procedures were postponed. Finally, following prompt internal reorganization, both outpatient clinics and on-call services underwent significant modification, by integrating telemedicine support whenever applicable. Conclusion: We presented the fast reorganization of an EP referral center during the ongoing COVID-19 healthcare emergency. Our hub-and-spoke model may be useful for other centers, aiming at a cost-effective management of resources in the context of a global crisis.
KW - Arrhythmology
KW - Coronavirus
KW - COVID-19
KW - Electrophysiology
KW - Hub and spoke
KW - SARS-CoV-2
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U2 - 10.1007/s10840-020-00761-7
DO - 10.1007/s10840-020-00761-7
M3 - Article
C2 - 32425656
AN - SCOPUS:85085334031
JO - Journal of Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiology
JF - Journal of Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiology
SN - 1383-875X
ER -