The medical director of the Clinic, Antoni Castells, assures that the time a patient waits for an emergency bed has decreased
The The covid-19 pandemic, which for almost two years has monopolized the resources and spaces of hospitals, has meant a transformation of health centers. For example, the home hospitalization (a entry mode in which the patient, clinically stable, remains at home instead of being in the hospital, while receiving a medical visit every day) has increased 42% in all Catalonia in recent years, as reflected in this multimedia report from El Periódico de Catalunya, from the Prensa Ibérica group. In hospitals like the clinic Barcelona, the percentage rises to 50%. But hospitalization at home is not the only thing that has enhanced the virus.
“The hospital has become much more versatile. Before, each service had its beds: they were like small impassable hospitals. Now the beds are much more versatile and we take out more performance” Explain Antonio Castells, Medical Director of the Clinic. Thus, if any service is not occupying all the beds, these are used by emergency patients. “Time has decreased a lot. that a patient waits for a bed in the emergency room,” says Castells.
In addition, as he explains, covid-19 taught professionals to be “much more agile” in making decisions. Since the impact of the virus was so high in the first wave, the health teams made decisions “very quickly”. “Now decision-making is much more decentralized than before. Before I had to go through a committee of decisions”, points out the medical director.
The virus has also led to increased number of beds in the intensive and semi-intensive units. “In the first wave we did it by force, but now we have consolidated a significant number of beds: about 30 or 40 critical and semi-critical. It was a lack that the hospital had,” continues Castells. General hospitals are more and more treble centers and the most serious patients need procedures, surgical or not, more invasive. This increase in “complexity” makes the hospital need intensive care beds to care for them. Many conventional beds They have thus been converted into spaces for the seriously ill.
Reference hospital
With covid-19, hospitals have learned to work “more in a network” with each other. The Clinic, for example, has a reference Area, that of the C-17 motorway, which connects Barcelona with Granollers, Mollet, Sant Celoni and Vic. “With covid we have empowered this network. When one of these hospitals did not have beds, we took care of it. This has helped a lot because the ability of these centers is less”, says Castells. Once the strongest waves of the pandemic, these hospitals followed that policy, which has been consolidated. The Clinic is the benchmark in this area. “We can have more pressure, but fortunately the commitment to these hospitals is favor the return the patient comes here for a more complex procedure, but then returns to his center,” he adds.
Says the same Christina Casanova, Head of the Division of Projects and Assistance Quality of the Regional Minister of Health. “Although covid was a wear very large, has also brought opportunities to the system. For example, it has brought us more links with other healthcare services: hospitals have come closer to the primary care already the mental health centers Casanova points out. He has also promoted teleworking and has reinforced certain “professional roles” such as that of nurses.
Finally, the pandemic has incentivized something as simple but as important as the hand hygiene. Now compliance “is much higher,” according to Castells. “This gives us advantage in front of the hospital infections. We are very concerned because more and more hospitals are suffering from the multi-resistant germs to all kinds of antibiotics,” he explains. According to him, the extreme hygiene measures “help” diminish infections. However still no definitive studies in this regard to confirm it.