The application of Temporary Ark Hospitals in controlling COVID‐19 spread: The experiences of one Temporary Ark Hospital, Wuhan, China

Abstract

Background:The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China spread worldwide, resulting in a large number of deaths.Methods: Temporary Ark hospitals (TAH) have played an important role in controlling the spread of the epidemic in the city of Wuhan. Taking one TAH with 800 beds as an example, we summarized details of the layout, setting, working mode of medical staffs, patient management, admission standards, discharge standards, and standards for transferring to another hospital, hospital operation, and so on.Results: Over the period of operation, a total of 1,124 patients were admitted for treatment. Of these, 833 patients were cured and discharged from the hospital and 291 patients were transferred to other designated hospitals owing to aggravation This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Accepted Articleof their condition. The achievement is to have zero infection for medical staff, zero in-hospital deaths among admitted patients, and zero readmission for discharged patients. Conclusion:The rapid deployment of TAH provided a suitable place for treating mild/moderate or no asymptomatic COVID-19 patients and successfully helped to control the infection in Wuhan. The successful model of TAH would rapidly and effectively control the spread of COVID-19 in other cities.

Using Logic Model and Key Performance Indicators to Construct A Field Hospital for Coronavirus Pandemic Cases

“…The input also comprised indicators of the target population's characteristics, such as the number of patients eligible for admission and the eld hospital services. To set up a eld hospital such as the facility under study, project managers and health planners need to check the available infrastructure and develop an appropriate design that allows for renovations (Yuan et al 2020).…”

“…The primary reason for building the eld hospital under study was to manage large numbers of infected patients with mild and moderate symptoms (Yuan et al 2020). Although empirical data can be a potent tool in terms of increasing the e cacy of establishing and operating eld hospitals, the need to respond quickly to unpredictable evolving issues during and after construction can take priority over performance evaluations (Savaya and Waysman 2005).…”

“…More importantly, people with mild or no symptoms could unknowingly transmit the disease among their family members and the community. The spread of the virus could worsen the situation by increasing the demand for hospital-based medical care needed to provide therapeutic interventions and prevent the spread of the illness among family and community members (Lai et al 2020, Yuan et al 2020).…”

“…Many healthcare systems worldwide have thus experienced increased burdens due to the limited availability of hospital beds, and healthcare systems cannot manage the surge in the number of coronavirus patients (Yuan et al 2020). These impacts on hospitals -whether immediate issues or longterm effects -can be expected in all types of disasters including pandemics, particularly when healthcare facilities lack plans to strengthen their surge capacity and staff resilience (Harley et al 2010 The Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei Province took the lead in establishing the rst eld hospitals to manage the surge in patient numbers (Yuan et al 2020). The construction of temporary eld hospitals is an extremely costly process, however, their success is undeniable, and this system has been adopted by many countries worldwide (Mateen et al 2020).…”

COVID-19 Surge Capacity Solutions: Our Experience of Converting a Concert Hall into a Temporary Hospital for Mild and Moderate COVID-19 Patients

“…As the recent literature [6][7][8][9][10][11][12] and news around the world [13][14][15] show, the idea to convert a public place into a temporary hospital has been widely used during the COVID-19 emergency, especially in China, with the opening of 16 "Ark/Fangcang" shelter hospitals in Wuhan, treating more than 12,000 patients in stadiums and In conclusion, it is clear that this paper has a time-dependent limitation for now, due to lack of data about patients admitted and team working dynamics; nevertheless, the urgent need for information pushed us to share our experience, in a moment in which all available data can be useful to fight the problem better. https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms.…”