1. Hospital Epidemics Tracker (HEpiTracker): Description and pilot study of a mobile app to track COVID-19 in hospital workers
- Author
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Aurelio Morales, Josep Muncunill, Alberto Fernández-Villar, Álvaro de Astorza, Julio Ancochea, Bernardino Alcázar-Navarrete, Carlos Catalina, Borja G. Cosío, Marcos Maroto, Sara Lumbreras, José María Alzaga, Eloy Ferreras, Celia de Lara, Carlos Alberto Valdivia, Xavier Basagaña, David Gómez Quilón, Luis Pérez de Llano, Dolors Carnicer-Pont, Esteve Fernández, Cecilia Soriano, Lorena Vega-Piris, Joan B. Soriano, Arturo García, María Lobo, Carlos Del Rio-Bermudez, UAM. Departamento de Medicina, and Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Hospital Universitario de La Princesa (IIS-IP)
- Subjects
Male ,Aplicacions mòbils ,020205 medical informatics ,Health Status ,humanos ,coronavirus ,epidemias ,Pilot Projects ,pandemias ,02 engineering and technology ,Body Temperature ,0302 clinical medicine ,Pandemic ,0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering ,Mass Screening ,Medicine ,030212 general & internal medicine ,app ,mediana edad ,Workers ,Surveillance ,proyectos piloto ,e-medicine ,Mobile apps ,estado de salud ,Middle Aged ,adulto ,Mobile Applications ,Telemedicine ,Hospitals ,Test (assessment) ,Population Surveillance ,surveillance ,language ,Female ,aplicaciones en aparatos electrónicos portátiles ,Public aspects of medicine ,RA1-1270 ,Coronavirus Infections ,infecciones por Coronavirus ,telemedicina ,Adult ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Monitoring ,Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,Medicina ,Pneumonia, Viral ,cribado sistemático ,MEDLINE ,Health Informatics ,Context (language use) ,Disclosure ,temperatura corporal ,Betacoronavirus ,03 medical and health sciences ,divulgación ,E-medicine ,vigilancia de la población ,Humans ,Epidemics ,Personal ,Pandemics ,Original Paper ,SARS-CoV-2 ,business.industry ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,COVID-19 ,neumonía ,Pneumonia ,language.human_language ,Coronavirus ,Personnel, Hospital ,monitoring ,Spain ,Family medicine ,Symptoms ,symptoms ,Portuguese ,App ,business - Abstract
Background: Hospital workers have been the most frequently and severely affected professional group during the COVID-19 pandemic, and have a big impact on transmission. In this context, innovative tools are required to measure the symptoms compatible with COVID-19, the spread of infection, and testing capabilities within hospitals in real time. Objective: We aimed to develop and test an effective and user-friendly tool to identify and track symptoms compatible with COVID-19 in hospital workers. Methods: We developed and pilot tested Hospital Epidemics Tracker (HEpiTracker), a newly designed app to track the spread of COVID-19 among hospital workers. Hospital staff in 9 hospital centers across 5 Spanish regions (Andalusia, Balearics, Catalonia, Galicia, and Madrid) were invited to download the app on their phones and to register their daily body temperature, COVID-19–compatible symptoms, and general health score, as well as any polymerase chain reaction and serological test results. Results: A total of 477 hospital staff participated in the study between April 8 and June 2, 2020. Of note, both health-related (n=329) and non–health-related (n=148) professionals participated in the study; over two-thirds of participants (68.8%) were health workers (43.4% physicians and 25.4% nurses), while the proportion of non–health-related workers by center ranged from 40% to 85%. Most participants were female (n=323, 67.5%), with a mean age of 45.4 years (SD 10.6). Regarding smoking habits, 13.0% and 34.2% of participants were current or former smokers, respectively. The daily reporting of symptoms was highly variable across participating hospitals; although we observed a decline in adherence after an initial participation peak in some hospitals, other sites were characterized by low participation rates throughout the study period. Conclusions: HEpiTracker is an already available tool to monitor COVID-19 and other infectious diseases in hospital workers. This tool has already been tested in real conditions. HEpiTracker is available in Spanish, Portuguese, and English. It has the potential to become a customized asset to be used in future COVID-19 pandemic waves and other environments., This project received unconditional help from Chiesi España SAU
- Published
- 2020