The application of Temporary Ark Hospitals in controlling COVID-19 spread: The experiences of one Temporary Ark Hospital, Wuhan, China

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) had its evolution in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, and now it has spread around the world, resulting in a large number of deaths. Temporary Ark hospitals (TAHs) have played an important role in controlling the spread of the epidemic in the city of Wuhan. Taking one TAH with 800 beds as an example, we summarized details of the layout, setting, working mode of medical staff, patient management, admission standards, discharge standards, and standards for transferring to another hospital, hospital operation, and so on. Over the period of operation, a total of 1124 patients were admitted for treatment. Of these, 833 patients were cured and discharged from the hospital and 291 patients were transferred to other designated hospitals, owing to aggravation of their condition. The achievement was to have zero infection for medical staff, zero in-hospital deaths among admitted patients, and zero readmission for discharged patients. The rapid deployment of TAH provided a suitable place for treating mild/moderate or no asymptomatic COVID-19 patients, which successfully helped to control the infection in Wuhan. The successful model of TAH would rapidly and effectively control the spread of COVID-19 in other cities.

Keywords: COVID-19; Temporary Ark Hospital; Wuhan; control.

Figure 1

A schematic diagram of medical unit layout in the temporary ark hospital. (1) MSC, medical staff channel; (2) OA, office area, including clinical care, nursing, administrative office, infection control, and supply chain to ensure stable operations in the hospital; (3) BA, buffer area; (4) Entrance; CA, contaminated area; PCA, potential contaminated area; HA, hygienic area; (5) exit; (6) ward; (7) NS, nurses' station; (8) P, pharmacy; (9) DO, doctor's office; (10) RR, recreation room; (11) S, storeroom; (12) ER, emergency room; (13) DC, disinfection channel; (14) DPC, discharged patient channel; (15) SR, shower room; (16) T, toilet; (17) MCTV, mobile computed tomography vehicle; (18) MP3IV, mobile P3 inspection vehicle; (19) A, ambulance; (20) TA, triage; (21) N/TPC, new/transfer patient channel

Figure 2

The physician duty schedule. This graph depicts three consecutive days of physician duty. JD, junior doctor; SD, senior doctor

Figure 3

A nurse duty schedule. This graph depicts two consecutive days of nurse duty. JN, junior nurse; SN, senor nurse

Figure 4

The COVID‐19 patient discharge process. Patient 1: For patients with COVID‐19‐related symptoms, the hospital stay was greater than 14 days, and symptoms could not be present for more than 3 days. Patient 2: For patients without COVID‐19‐related symptoms, the history of close contact with positive patients must have been greater than 14 days. CT, computed tomography

Figure 5

The number of total (red), new (blue), transferred (violet), and discharged (green) patients from 6 February 2020 to 10 March 2020 at Wuchang Temporary Ark Hospital (WTAH). *The asymptomatic patients who were not negative after repeated nucleic acid tests were transferred to designated hospitals for further diagnosis and treatment. Red, the total number of patients per day in WTAH; blue, the number of new patients per day in WTAH; violet, the number of patients transferred to designed hospital per day in WTAH; green, the number of discharged patients per day in WTAH