Crisis management during the pandemic: a quality improvement work about the approach to new cases using Trace COVID-19

Abstract

Introduction: Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, primary healthcare physicians have been monitoring people suspected of or infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus through the Trace COVID-19® online platform. By the end of January 2021, during the third wave of this pandemic, the available human resources at a family health unit became insufficient for the number of cases being followed at Trace COVID-19®. This resulted in a delay of more than two days in making the first medical contact with newly infected patients.

Methods: Quasi-experimental study, pre- and post-intervention, without a control group, carried out in a family health unit. The initial assessment took place in the first week of February. The execution rate and the total number of hours until the first medical contact was calculated. We established two post-intervention evaluation periods, immediate and late, in the second and fourth weeks of February, respectively. The primary outcome was the rate of newly infected people contacted within 24 hours after introduction to Trace COVID-19®. Quality standard: Insufficient < 50%; Good 5-80%; Very good > 80%. For data analysis, we used Microsoft Excel®.

Results: In the initial assessment, we found 148 new cases. Of these, only 12.8% were contacted within the first 24 hours after the positive result. In the immediate post-intervention period, there were 82 new infections, of which 85.7% were contacted in less than 24 hours. In the late post-intervention period, all newly infected people were contacted on the same day, corresponding to 100% efficacy in making the first contact within 24 hours.

Conclusion: Implementing the protocol improved the medical team’s work and resulted in the achievement of the previously defined goals. Clear priorities and the execution of simple measures can increase efficacy and improve health outcomes.