Innovative Regional Services and Heterogeneous Communication Channels: Results from the Nationwide German egePan Project for Pandemic Management.

Publication date: Nov 04, 2024

Background: In the COVID-19 pandemic, novel regional services and communication channels emerged across all sectors of the German healthcare system. To contribute to pandemic preparedness, this study aims to describe newly established services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic from a stakeholder perspective and to examine the interprofessional communication channels, applying a nationwide cross-sectional approach. Methods: A nationwide sample of German healthcare stakeholders comprising general practitioners, associations of statutory health insurance physicians, hospital medical directors, local health departments, rescue coordination centres, medical directors of emergency services, outpatient nursing services, nursing homes, community care access centres, and hospital nursing managers was surveyed. A web-based questionnaire asked for their level of participation in newly implemented regional COVID-19 services and communication channels. Stakeholders’ level of recommendation was measured using the Net Promotor Score (NPS), a metric that assesses their satisfaction towards the services surveyed. Results: In total, 1312 healthcare stakeholders participated in the survey. Diagnostic centres (23. 0-90. 9%), COVID-19 wards in hospitals (40. 5-92. 1%), emergency medical vehicles designated solely for COVID-19 patients (16. 5-68. 4%), and crisis intervention teams (11. 6-30. 6%) exhibited the highest rates of engagement. The services receiving the highest recommendation for future use were COVID-19 focus practices (NPS: 33. 4-43. 7), COVID-19 wards in hospitals (NPS: 47. 6-84. 4), transportation of COVID-19 patients exclusively by predefined professional groups (NPS: 12. 5-36. 4), and newly implemented digitally supported nursing services (NPS: 58. 3-100. 0). Telephones emerged as the most frequently used communication channel (58. 0-96. 7%), while email was the primary digital channel (23. 7-81. 5%). Conclusions: During the COVID-19 pandemic, Germany experienced significant variation in the implementation of pandemic-related services across healthcare sectors, with stakeholders prioritising services built on existing healthcare structures. Developing a proactive digital infrastructure to connect healthcare professionals from different sectors is crucial for better future pandemic management.

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Concepts Keywords
Covid ambulatory care
Future COVID-19
Germany emergency medical services
Healthcare hospitals
Pandemic nursing services
pandemic preparedness
regional health planning
telemedicine

Semantics

Type Source Name
disease MESH COVID-19 pandemic
disease MESH emergency
disease IDO intervention
drug DRUGBANK Tropicamide
drug DRUGBANK Coenzyme M
disease IDO country
disease IDO process
drug DRUGBANK Etoperidone
disease IDO site
drug DRUGBANK Ademetionine
disease IDO facility
disease MESH infection
disease MESH relapses
disease MESH aids
drug DRUGBANK Medical air
disease MESH Critically ill
disease MESH end of life
drug DRUGBANK Pentaerythritol tetranitrate
pathway REACTOME Translation
disease MESH causes
pathway REACTOME Reproduction
drug DRUGBANK Diethylstilbestrol

Original Article

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