Creating COVID-19 surge capacity at an elective surgical centre: a model for perioperative care
Erica Remedios A * , Joel Adams A and Leena Nagappan AA Department of Anaesthesia, Pain and Perioperative Medicine, Fiona Stanley and Fremantle Hospitals Group, Perth, WA, Australia.
Australian Health Review 47(1) 88-91 https://doi.org/10.1071/AH22024
Submitted: 12 February 2022 Accepted: 26 August 2022 Published: 15 September 2022
© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of AHHA. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY).
Abstract
We provide an initial, brief description of safe relocation of our emergency surgical services from a tertiary teaching hospital to a satellite secondary hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. The reconfiguration created increased theatre and critical care bed capacity at the tertiary site, while enabling lower acuity emergency services in a repurposed, designated COVID free hospital. The described model can be applied to situations mandating surge capacity at tertiary hospitals, in high income countries.
Keywords: COVID-19, elective surgical centre, health services management, health services research, perioperative medicine, surge capacity.
References
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