Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) hospitals have played a vital role in the comprehensive strategy adopted by Qatar in combating COVID-19 and the experiences will be helpful particularly in preparation for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
An influx of visitors is expected into Qatar for the world cup amidst the ongoing pandemic, according to two separate studies published recently.
The studies were based on Mesaieed General Hospital (MGH) and Al Wakra Hospital (AWH) and published in QScience — an online publishing platform from HBKU Press — have also said that multidisciplinary teams of healthcare professionals effectively worked together to confront the challenges and changing demands that arose due to the crisis.
The study on ‘Mesaieed General Hospital’s Comprehensive Preparedness during COVID-19 Waves: A Comparative Clinical Audit’ revealed the experiences and lessons learnt through MGH’s COVID-19 pandemic preparation from the first to second wave have taught the team significantly to proactively address concerns to mitigate similar pandemic situations in the future, including during the 2022 world cup.
In response to the declaration of COVID-19 reaching pandemic status, MGH was commissioned in record time. The study was done as a clinical audit of MGH’s preparation as a COVID-19 facility during the first and second waves of the pandemic in Qatar, utilising the Comprehensive Hospital Agile Preparedness (CHAPs) tool.
The six essential domains of the tool are: workforce, infrastructure, supply and equipment, service reconfiguration, data and information technology, and communications.
According to the study findings, during the first wave, the multidisciplinary team and leaders encountered challenges in all domains of the CHAPs tool. These six key areas in preparing the hospital and the systems from the previous surge benefited them in managing the second wave which demonstrated significant improvements in five domains except for the workforce. Despite having Corporate Nursing workforce in charge of the manpower pool from various facilities, temporary COVID-19 Registered Nurses and newly hired overseas staff have different nursing educational backgrounds, experience, and levels of expertise.
This remains a challenge since most of the patients in the second wave were sicker and more critically-ill. It is essential to provide upskilling programmes for nurses to improve their knowledge and abilities, the study suggested.
On the other hand, ‘Clinical Transformation of Al Wakra Hospital to a COVID-19 facility,’ has revealed that a well-formulated infrastructure, prompt reallocation of resources, staff dedication, teamwork, proactive risk assessment, and continuous collaborative efforts paved the road to the successful clinical transformation of the hospital.
HMC had to cope with an overwhelming number of patients being admitted to acute care areas during early 2021 and four HMC tertiary and secondary care hospitals were already at full capacity with COVID-19 patients. There was a need for another hospital like AWH to step up. AWH was a multi-specialty hospital attending to patients from all age groups with varying intensity levels in its outpatient, inpatient, and critical care units.
The study encompasses the journey of AWH from an acute care hospital to a COVID-19 facility receiving adult and obstetric COVID-19 patients from April 5, 2021. The preparation involved rigorous risk assessment, brainstorming, and modification of patient care pathways and services. A series of risk assessment rounds were conducted.
The transformation encompassed areas inclusive of, but not limited to, the creation and implementation of clinical pathways, drop off and pick up points for ambulances, way finding creation, online, point-of-care, face-to-face education, installation of antigen testing, staff exposure interviews and test scheduling, personal protective equipment (PPE) availability, H2O2 vapor disinfection, and healthcare-associated infections surveillance.
“Clinical pathways were well thought out to ensure the prevention of cross-contamination between patients,” it said.
“This transformation demonstrated that successful change ensuring patient and staff safety can be achieved in a matter of days based on an organisation’s determination and comprehensive strategic planning, redesigning strategies that are effective, efficient, and befitting the need of time,” the study suggested.
