Ms Vivian Leung1,2,3, Ms Ana Suto1, Ms Elizabeth Orr1, A/Prof Caroline Marshall1,2,3
1Infection Prevention and Surveillance Service, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
2Victorian Infectious Diseases Service, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
3Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Melbourne at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, Australia
Methods: RMH is a 550 bed hospital with multiple satellite campuses encompassing sub-acute and mental health services. The Infection Prevention and Surveillance Service (IPSS) is responsible for COVID-19 contact tracing of staff and patients. A new contact tracing platform, was implemented in February 2022, with the initial objective of managing staff contact tracing data.
Results: The contact tracing platform at RMH has been customised for IPSS requirements. The system includes a staff self-registration form to notify managers and IPSS of COVID-19 positive or exposure status, resulting in reduced workload, allowing IPSS to identify COVID-19 positive staff requiring specific follow-up. Since implementation, there have been 2900 self-registered staff notifications of COVID-19 exposures or positive results. Of these, 1581 (55%) were COVID-19 positive, 625 (22%) workplace exposures, 523 (18%) household contacts and 71 (6%) social contacts.
Conclusion: Tailored software solutions are a practical and preferred alternative to using spreadsheets for managing contact trace data. In healthcare settings where there are frequent exposures and outbreaks, the new platform has streamlined contact tracing and reduced IPSS workload.
Background: Contact tracing has been a critical component of the COVID-19 pandemic response. While contact tracing data from small outbreaks can usually be managed using spreadsheets, larger outbreaks require more advanced platforms. Since 2020, Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) moved from using spreadsheets, to a Research Electronic Data Capture database for contact tracing. In 2021, as COVID-19 continued to impact the health service and reporting requirements evolved, the need for a more sophisticated contact tracing system was identified.
Biography: Vivian is an epidemiologist and joined the Victorian Infectious Diseases Service and Infection Prevention and Surveillance Service at Royal Melbourne Hospital in 2021, where she also leads the newly established infection prevention data team.
Ana is a senior clinical nurse consultant and deputy manager of the Infection Prevention and Surveillance Service at Royal Melbourne Hospital.