‘Pleural Triage’ facilitates effective management of a pleural service in the COVID-19 era

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has created new challenges for management of pleural diseases. As resources and staff have been redirected to manage acutely unwell COVID-19 patients, routine medical practice and service provision for pleural diseases have been severely disrupted. We recognised the impact this had for patients with pleural diseases, who can be highly vulnerable to infection and often have conditions for which treatment cannot be safely delayed. The pleural service was reviewed in a tertiary centre, focusing on the changes that allowed maintenance of a service whilst maximising patient and staff safety, with the aim that these service transformations can be adopted elsewhere to improve care for pleural patients during and beyond COVID-19.

CRD Editor’s corner archive: October-December

“…December 16th, 2021 A positive consequence of the pandemic has been the pace of innovation in the delivery of clinical services previously highly reliant on face to face patient contact. Ajmal and colleagues 2 demonstrate nicely how this was achieved for the delivery of pleural services in a tertiary hospital by incorporating a triage process to direct cases to the most appropriate form of clinical-patient contact. It seems likely such innovations are here to stay – we look forward to seeing more data on impacts on clinical outcomes and the patient’s experience of their care.…”