Assistance Publique–Hôpitaux de Paris' response to the COVID-19 pandemic

• Published in: The Lancet Vol. 395; no. 10239; pp. 1760 - 1761
• Main Author: The COVID19-APHP Group
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 06.06.2020; Elsevier BV; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Betacoronavirus; Contact Tracing; Coronavirus Infections; Coronaviruses; Correspondence; COVID-19; Decision making; Dentistry; Hospitals; Hospitals, Public - organization & administration; Hospitals, Teaching - organization & administration; Humans; Intensive care; Intensive Care Units - organization & administration; Intensive Care Units - statistics & numerical data; Medical research; Nursing; Pandemics; Paris; Patients; Pneumonia, Viral; Professional ethics; SARS-CoV-2; Telemedicine; Telemedicine - organization & administration; Terrorism; Paris; France
• ISSN: 0140-6736; 1474-547X
• DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31210-1

[...]of its size and location, AP-HP has been a major player in France's COVID-19 response, as it was in responding to terrorist attacks.1 AP-HP has a reputation of being an institution with a size, cumbersome operations, and internal competition that prevent any nimble response. Universities called upon thousands of students in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and dentistry who underwent specific training to work as paramedics, research assistants, or operators on a telemedicine platform.3 Management of available beds was crucial, so a central ICU bed-allocation system was organised at the regional level to optimise patient transfers across hospitals. The Covidom telemedicine platform monitored more than 50 000 patients at home (appendix).3 A region-wide patient-tracing programme, COVISAN, was set up.4 Devised by AP-HP under the umbrella of the regional health authority, the COVISAN programme brought together local authorities, general practitioners, non-governmental organisations, and private companies, which helped to secure the national lockdown exit plan.