Authors (including presenting author) :
Chan SF (1), Law WY (1), Cheung SC (1), Tang HY (1)
Introduction :
The outbreak of COVID-19 has a significant impact toward Hong Kong health care system. With the fifth wave of pandemic, our health care system has been stretched to its limits as prolonged hospitalization and isolation. PMH with Infectious Disease Centre is responsible for the majority of infected patients. Over 7000 patients were diagnosed with COVID-19 in 2022 in PMH. Early discharge and triage of confirmed case to appropriate destination is one of the strategies to reduce unnecessary hospital stays. OT as one of allied health professionals plays an important role in supporting patients with safe and timely discharge.
Methodology :
It is retrospective in nature, reviewing on the OT service between the period of 01 February 2022 and 31 November 2022. The preliminary analysis was conducted in December 2022. A total of 1284 referral requests were completed and discharged, with a total of 1271 patient headcounts. Paired t-test was used to evaluate the outcome of functional improvement (MBI) among them.
Result & Outcome :
The mean number of attendances was 8.33 days, range from 1 to 109 days. 60% of patients (n=774) had received 1 to 5 sessions of OT treatment before discharged. Only 9% of patients (n=117) had received more than 1 month of OT treatment in PMH.
Most of the patients (n=1179, 92%) were referred for activities of daily living assessment & intervention, mobilization or fall program. Other referrals could be categorized into following areas: cognitive assessment & intervention (n=141, 11%), pressure therapy (n=63, 5%), stroke rehab (n=43, 3%), oxygen therapy (n=29, 2%), fracture hip protocol (n=28, 22%), aids prescription (n=26, 2%), splintage (n=21, 2%), & caregiver training (n=16, 1%).
Patients referred for OT service with complete set of data (n=1007) were recruited for further analyzed their outcome. Of which, 607 (60%) patients could be directly discharged back to original placement, including home with caregiver (n=443, 73%), home alone (n=44, 7%) & aged home (n=120, 19%). All recruited patients showed significant improvement in MBI mean score from 46.25 to 53.60 (mean change 7.348, p<0.001).
In conclusion, OT showed a significant role in facilitating patient timely discharge and triage to appropriate placement.
