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. 2020 Aug 11;7(10):ofaa318.
doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofaa318. eCollection 2020 Oct.

Automatic ID Consultation for Inpatients With COVID-19: Point, Counterpoint, and a Single-Center Experience

Cynthia T Nguyen  1 , Gregory Olson  2 , Mai T Pho  2 , Alison K Lew  1 , David Pitrak  2 , Jina Saltzman  2 , Aniruddha Hazra  2 , Kenneth Pursell  2 , Natasha N Pettit  1
Affiliations

Automatic ID Consultation for Inpatients With COVID-19: Point, Counterpoint, and a Single-Center Experience

Cynthia T Nguyen et al. Open Forum Infect Dis. .

Abstract

There are many unknowns with regard to COVID-19 clinical management, including the role of Infectious Diseases Consultation (IDC). As hospitalizations for COVID-19 continue, hospitals are assessing how to optimally and efficiently manage COVID-19 inpatients. Typically, primary teams must determine when IDC is appropriate, and ID clinicians provide consultation upon request of the primary team. IDC has been shown to be beneficial for many conditions; however, the impact of IDC for COVID-19 is unknown. Herein, we discuss the potential benefits and pitfalls of automatic IDC for COVID-19 inpatients. Important considerations include the quality of care provided, allocation and optimization of resources, and clinician satisfaction. Finally, we describe how automatic IDC changed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic at a single academic medical center.

Keywords: COVID-19; infectious diseases; referral and consultation.

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