SARS‐CoV2 hospital surveillance and control system with contact tracing for patients and health care workers at a large reference hospital in Spain during the first wave: An observational descriptive study

Abstract

Background and Aims During the first peak of the COVID‐19 pandemic, the Preventive Medicine Department and the Occupational Health Department at Hospital Clinic de Barcelona (HCB), a large Spanish referral hospital, developed an innovative comprehensive SARS‐CoV2 Surveillance and Control System (CoSy‐19) in order to preserve patients' and health care workers' (HCWs) safety. We aim to describe the CoSy‐19 and to assess the impact in the number of contacts that new cases generated along this time. Methods Observational descriptive study of the findings of the activity of contact tracing of all cases received at the HCB during the first peak of COVID‐19 in Spain (February 25th‐May 3rd, 2020). Results A team of 204 professionals and volunteers performed 384 in‐hospital contact‐tracing studies which generated contacts, detecting 298 transmission chains which suggested preventive measures, generated around 22 000 follow‐ups and more than 30 000 days of work leave. The number of contacts that new cases generated decreased during the study period. Conclusion Coordination between Preventive Medicine and Occupational Health departments and agile information systems were necessary to preserve non‐COVID activity and workers safety.

The Use of Contact Tracing Technologies for Infection Prevention and Control Purposes in Nosocomial Settings: A Systematic Literature Review

“…The different technologies, aims, populations and settings among the included studies are presented in Table 3 . In total, 7 of the 14 included studies investigated the use of proximity sensing technology [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ], 6 reported analyses following the development/deployment of technologically enhanced contact tracing systems [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ], while only 1 described the use of telephone interviews [ 32 ]. All studies were conducted in hospital settings, including departments at risk of infectious diseases/isolation rooms [ 19 , 23 ], paediatrics [ 21 , 24 , 28 ], emergency departments [ 20 , 28 ] and one study included additional data from a nursing home facility [ 22 ].…”

“…Authors report that the majority of users found the tool useful and would recommend its use, with a minority experiencing difficulties in using the platform (specifically logging in). Following the coronavirus outbreak disease in 2019 (COVID-19), three studies report on automated contact tracing approaches [ 28 , 29 , 30 ]. Hong et al investigated the use of clinical event data from electronic health records (EHRs) to identify healthcare worker exposure by coronavirus patients.…”

“…Authors report that moving from a paper-based to a web-based system improved the efficiency and capacity of the system, with contact risk automatically calculated based on an algorithm. Llupià et al described the SARS-CoV2 Surveillance and Control System (CoSy-19) developed by the Preventive Medicine Department and the Occupational Health Department at Hospital Clinic de Barcelona [ 30 ]. The CoSy-19 executes three main tasks: (i) case identification, (ii) contact tracing and (iii) contact follow-up.…”

“…Fifty percent of the studies examined proximity detection technologies using either radio frequency identification (RFID) systems [ 28 , 29 , 31 , 32 ] or Bluetooth proximity sensors [ 27 , 30 , 33 ]. These systems allow monitoring of the location and movements of healthcare personnel within healthcare facilities.…”

Prospective Clinical Surveillance for Severe Acute Respiratory Illness in Kenyan Hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The value of surveillance systems during the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be overstated (9). Insights from these systems and other hospital-based studies have been useful in identifying those at increased risk for severe outcomes and informing both pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical interventions against the disease(6, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29). Our study found that patients admitted between May 2020 and December 2022 with SARI had a higher mortality rate, especially those with COVID-19, compared to their non-SARI counterparts.…”