Secondary impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic at a tertiary children’s hospital in Canada: a mixed-methods study
Objectives Decisions to pause all non-essential paediatric hospital activities during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic may have led to significant delays, deferrals and disruptions in medical care. This study explores clinical cases where the care of children was perceived by hospital clin...
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| Format: | Article |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2023-04-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/13/4/e059849.full |
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| author | Catherine Diskin Annie Fecteau Eyal Cohen Arpita Parmar Jeremy Friedman Blossom Dharmaraj Tanvi Agarwal Kelly McNaughton Alia Sunderji David Faraoni Jason Fischer Jason Maynes |
| author_facet | Catherine Diskin Annie Fecteau Eyal Cohen Arpita Parmar Jeremy Friedman Blossom Dharmaraj Tanvi Agarwal Kelly McNaughton Alia Sunderji David Faraoni Jason Fischer Jason Maynes |
| author_sort | Catherine Diskin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objectives Decisions to pause all non-essential paediatric hospital activities during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic may have led to significant delays, deferrals and disruptions in medical care. This study explores clinical cases where the care of children was perceived by hospital clinicians to have been negatively impacted because of the changes in healthcare delivery attributing to the restrictions placed resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.Design and setting This study used a mixed-methods approach using the following: (1) a quantitative analysis of overall descriptive hospital activity between May and August 2020, and utilisation of data during the study period was performed, and (2) a qualitative multiple-case study design with descriptive thematic analysis of clinician-reported consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on care provided at a tertiary children’s hospital.Results Hospital-level utilisation and activity patterns revealed a substantial change to hospital activity including an initial reduction in emergency department attendance by 38% and an increase in ambulatory virtual care from 4% before COVID-19 to 67% between May and August 2020. Two hundred and twelve clinicians reported a total of 116 unique cases. Themes including (1) timeliness of care, (2) disruption of patient-centred care, (3) new pressures in the provision of safe and efficient care and (4) inequity in the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, each impacting patients, their families and healthcare providers.Conclusion Being aware of the breadth of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic across all of the identified themes is important to enable the delivery of timely, safe, high-quality, family-centred paediatric care moving forward. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-cc4f7070e55e4ade8c25cc2da9c67a4a |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2044-6055 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-cc4f7070e55e4ade8c25cc2da9c67a4a2025-08-20T02:13:06ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552023-04-0113410.1136/bmjopen-2021-059849Secondary impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic at a tertiary children’s hospital in Canada: a mixed-methods studyCatherine Diskin0Annie Fecteau1Eyal Cohen2Arpita Parmar3Jeremy Friedman4Blossom Dharmaraj5Tanvi Agarwal6Kelly McNaughton7Alia Sunderji8David Faraoni9Jason Fischer10Jason Maynes11Temple Street Hospital, Dublin, Ireland3 Division of General and Thoracic Surgery, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada1 Division of Pediatric Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaChild Health Evaluative Sciences, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaDivision of Paediatric Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaDivision of Paediatric Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaDivision of Paediatric Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaPeer Support Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaDepartment of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaDepartment of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaDepartment of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaDepartment of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaObjectives Decisions to pause all non-essential paediatric hospital activities during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic may have led to significant delays, deferrals and disruptions in medical care. This study explores clinical cases where the care of children was perceived by hospital clinicians to have been negatively impacted because of the changes in healthcare delivery attributing to the restrictions placed resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.Design and setting This study used a mixed-methods approach using the following: (1) a quantitative analysis of overall descriptive hospital activity between May and August 2020, and utilisation of data during the study period was performed, and (2) a qualitative multiple-case study design with descriptive thematic analysis of clinician-reported consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on care provided at a tertiary children’s hospital.Results Hospital-level utilisation and activity patterns revealed a substantial change to hospital activity including an initial reduction in emergency department attendance by 38% and an increase in ambulatory virtual care from 4% before COVID-19 to 67% between May and August 2020. Two hundred and twelve clinicians reported a total of 116 unique cases. Themes including (1) timeliness of care, (2) disruption of patient-centred care, (3) new pressures in the provision of safe and efficient care and (4) inequity in the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, each impacting patients, their families and healthcare providers.Conclusion Being aware of the breadth of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic across all of the identified themes is important to enable the delivery of timely, safe, high-quality, family-centred paediatric care moving forward.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/13/4/e059849.full |
| spellingShingle | Catherine Diskin Annie Fecteau Eyal Cohen Arpita Parmar Jeremy Friedman Blossom Dharmaraj Tanvi Agarwal Kelly McNaughton Alia Sunderji David Faraoni Jason Fischer Jason Maynes Secondary impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic at a tertiary children’s hospital in Canada: a mixed-methods study BMJ Open |
| title | Secondary impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic at a tertiary children’s hospital in Canada: a mixed-methods study |
| title_full | Secondary impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic at a tertiary children’s hospital in Canada: a mixed-methods study |
| title_fullStr | Secondary impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic at a tertiary children’s hospital in Canada: a mixed-methods study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Secondary impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic at a tertiary children’s hospital in Canada: a mixed-methods study |
| title_short | Secondary impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic at a tertiary children’s hospital in Canada: a mixed-methods study |
| title_sort | secondary impacts of the covid 19 pandemic at a tertiary children s hospital in canada a mixed methods study |
| url | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/13/4/e059849.full |
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