Virtual admissions should ease the pressure during future epidemics
Det nye projekt ”Influenz-er: Rethinking Epidemic Preparedness and Response” skal udvikle et system med virtuelle indlæggelser og telemedicin til at begrænse belastningen fra indlæggelser på hospitalet under kommende epidemier som COVID-19.
The project has received 20 million DKK from the Innovation Fund and will be implemented and tested at Nordsjællands Hospital for a period of 4 years. CIMT and innovation professor Kristian Kidholm have received 2.3 million DKK to carry out the health economic analyses, which must be carried out in the form of a PhD project. The project marks a new collaboration for CIMT with the University of Copenhagen and Nordsjællands Hospital.
EPIDEMICS CHALLENGE HOSPITALS IN TERMS OF BEDS, STAFF AND EQUIPMENT
Major epidemics such as COVID-19 and influenza can in a short time cause a large influx of patients in hospitals and thus challenge the hospitals' capacity in terms of bed rationing as well as staff and equipment. Filled hospitals with greater pressure, especially on emergency departments and wards, again lead to an increased risk of virus infection.
Therefore, the project "Influenz-er" must test a new model for epidemic management and preparedness in the healthcare system and implement it at Nordsjællands Hospital.
In the model, digital solutions play an important role: Citizens can monitor their illness themselves using a smartphone or tablet and possibly be hospitalised in their own home. A virtual epidemic centre at the hospital must monitor the patient during hospitalisation in their own home and thereby ensure a link between continuous monitoring and communication between the citizen and the hospital. The epidemic centre must be able to handle diagnostic testing, isolation, monitoring and treatment.
The purpose of the project is to ensure hospital capacity for the sickest during a virus epidemic by allowing all other virus-infected patients to be treated under safe conditions at home with 24-hour access to the epidemic centre. With the project, Nordsjællands Hospital will implement a generic epidemic model that is flexible in relation to all major virus epidemics nationally and internationally.
If you want to know more about the research project, you can contact Head of Research at CIMT, Kristian Kidholm, at kristian.kidholm@rsyd.dk or Thea Kølsen Fischer, Head of Research at Nordsjællands Hospital at thea.koelsen.fischer@regionh.dk.