1. Real-Time CDC Consultation during the COVID-19 Pandemic—United States, March–July, 2020
- Author
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Sallyann M Coleman King, Michelle S. Chevalier, Deborah Dowell, Catherine A. McLean, Titilope Oduyebo, Katherine R. Shealy, Tonya R Williams, Anna A. Minta, Angela M. Thompson-Paul, Ugonna C Ijeoma, Miriam Shiferaw, Kathrine R. Tan, Elfriede Agyemang, John K. Iskander, Hanna B. Demeke, Allan W. Taylor, Sara E. Oliver, Daniel Wozniczka, and Maleeka Glover
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis ,Population ,Context (language use) ,clinician inquiries ,Article ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,030225 pediatrics ,Pandemic ,Health care ,medicine ,Humans ,030212 general & internal medicine ,education ,Pandemics ,Referral and Consultation ,Service (business) ,education.field_of_study ,SARS-CoV-2 ,business.industry ,Public health ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,COVID-19 ,United States ,Telephone ,Family medicine ,real-time consultation ,Medicine ,health department inquiries ,Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S ,Psychology ,business ,CDC ,Health department - Abstract
Context: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) clinicians provided real-time telephone consultation to healthcare providers, public health practitioners, and health department personnel. Objective: To describe the demographic and public health characteristics of inquiries, trends, and correlation of inquiries with national COVID-19 case reports. We summarize the results of real-time CDC clinician consultation service provided during 11 March to 31 July 2020 to understand the impact and utility of this service by CDC for the COVID-19 pandemic emergency response and for future outbreak responses. Design: Clinicians documented inquiries received including information about the call source, population for which guidance was sought, and a detailed description of the inquiry and resolution. Descriptive analyses were conducted, with a focus on characteristics of callers as well as public health and clinical content of inquiries. Setting: Real-time telephone consultations with CDC Clinicians in Atlanta, GA. Participants: Health care providers and public health professionals who called CDC with COVID-19 related inquiries from throughout the United States. Main Outcome Measures: Characteristics of inquiries including topic of inquiry, inquiry population, resolution, and demographic information. Results: A total of 3154 COVID-19 related telephone inquiries were answered in real-time. More than half (62.0%) of inquiries came from frontline healthcare providers and clinical sites, followed by 14.1% from state and local health departments. The majority of inquiries focused on issues involving healthcare workers (27.7%) and interpretation or application of CDC’s COVID-19 guidance (44%). Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a substantial number of inquiries to CDC, with the large majority originating from the frontline clinical and public health workforce. Analysis of inquiries suggests that the ongoing focus on refining COVID-19 guidance documents is warranted, which facilitates bidirectional feedback between the public, medical professionals, and public health authorities.
- Published
- 2021