TY - JOUR
AU - Moreno Martos, David
AU - Foley, Seanq
AU - Parcell, Benjamin J.
AU - Trucu, Dumitru
AU - Eftimie, Raluca
PY - 2022
DA - April
TI - A computational investigation of COVID-19 transmission inside hospital wards and associated costs
JO - Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering
EP - 6522
VL - 19
IS - 7
DO - https://doi.org/10.3934/mbe.2022306
AB - The COVID-19 pandemics has placed a particular burden on hospitals: from intra-hospital transmission of the infections, to reduced admissions of non-COVID-19 patients. There are also high costs associated with the treatment of hospitalised COVID-19 patients, as well as reductions in revenues due to delayed and cancelled treatments. In this study we investigate computationally the trans-mission of COVID-19 inside a hospital ward that contains multiple-bed bays (with 4 or 6 beds) and multiple single-bed side rooms (that can accommodate the contacts of COVID-19-positive patients).The aim is to investigate the role of 4-bed bays vs. 6-bed bays on the spread of infections and the hospital costs. We show that 4-bed bays are associated with lower infections only when we reduce the discharge time of some patients from 10 days to 5 days. This also leads to lower costs for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. In contrast, 6-bed bays are associated with reduced hospital waiting lists (especially when there are also multiple side rooms available to accommodate the contacts ofCOVID-19-positive patients identified inside 6-bed bays).
PB - AIMS Press
UR - https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/publications/10faa38d-4af1-4541-8db4-00f30305e204
KW - Coronavirus (COVID-19)
KW - Healthcare associated infection
KW - Hospital care
ER