oa Clinical Transformation of Al Wakra Hospital to a COVID-19 facility

Background: Since the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic struck the healthcare industry, there has been a rapidly evolving and escalating situation across the globe that lead healthcare organizations to embrace changes at an accelerated rate¹. Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) had to cope with an overwhelming number of patients being admitted to Acute Care areas during early 2021. When four HMC tertiary and secondary care hospitals were already at full capacity with COVID-19 patients, there was a need for another hospital like Al Wakra Hospital (AWH) to step up. AWH was a multi-specialty hospital attending to patients from all age groups with varying intensity levels in its Outpatient, Inpatient, and Critical Care Units. This article encompasses the journey of AWH from an acute care hospital to a COVID-19 facility receiving adult and obstetric COVID-19 patients from April 5th, 2021. Methods: The preparation involved rigorous risk assessment, brainstorming, and modification of patient care pathways and services (Table 1). A Series of Risk Assessment rounds were conducted.

The transformation encompassed areas inclusive of, but are not limited to, the creation and implementation of clinical pathways, drop off and pick up points for ambulances, wayfinding creation, online/point-of-care/face-to-face education, installation of antigen testing/Sharps box/wall-mounted hand rubs/ACRYLIC screens, staff exposure interviews and test scheduling, personal protective equipment (PPE) availability, H2O2 vapor disinfection, and healthcare-associated infections surveillance². Clinical pathways were well thought out to ensure the prevention of cross-contamination between patients³. Results: This transformation (Table1) demonstrated that successful change ensuring patient and staff safety can be achieved in a matter of days based on an organization's determination and comprehensive strategic planning, redesigning strategies that are effective, efficient, and befitting the need of time. Conclusion: A well-formulated infrastructure, prompt reallocation of resources, staff dedication, teamwork, proactive risk assessment, and continuous collaborative efforts paved the road to the successful clinical transformation of AWH.