Intravitreal injections during the COVID-19 Outbreak in Northern Italy: an innovative approach for a high quality and safe treatment
I dati del progetto di OPT dedicato al monitoraggio dei KPI e all’analisi Real World Evidence dei processi di presa in carico, diagnostici e terapeutici del paziente con maculopatia durante l’emergenza Covid 19 sono stati utilizzati per uno studio osservazionale volto ad esaminare i risultati delle iniezioni intravitreali (IVI) eseguite in ambulatorio oftalmologico utilizzando un’unità mobile a flusso laminare rispetto alla procedura standard in un ambiente di sala operatoria.
I risultati dello studio dimostrano che le IVI eseguite al di fuori dalla sala operatoria non solo garantiscono la sicurezza del paziente, ma riducono anche i tempi di impiego del personale sanitario e le liste di attesa per i pazienti aumentando il numero di interventi e migliorando il rapporto costo-efficacia della procedura.
In sintesi, le IVI eseguite in regime ambulatoriale rappresentano una valida alternativa rispetto alla somministrazione in sala operatoria, sotto il profilo clinico, organizzativo ed economico.
Di seguito l’abstract dell’articolo pubblicato su European Journal of Ophthalmology:
Intravitreal injection (IVI) is a standard procedure performed in ophthalmology to treat several conditions, and is performed in different settings across countries. The Italian guidelines recommend this intervention is performed in an operating room to minimize the risk of infections, while in other countries, including Canada, USA and the UK, IVIs are performed in the ophthalmologist’s office. The 2020 COVID-19 outbreak caused a dramatic modification in outpatient care. Consequently, non-urgent surgical activities, like IVIs, were subjected to a drastic reduction.
Methods
We conducted observational study which investigated the outcomes of IVIs performed in an ophthalmologist’s office using a mobile laminar flow unit, the Operio mobile (Toul Meditech, Operio®) versus an operating room setting.
Results
Use of the Operio mobile allowed the safety performance of 3838 IVIs during COVID-19 and significantly reduced the waiting time of the first visit. This results in a faster intervention without affecting the technical IVI procedure that remained unchanged comparing the two settings. Specifically, we observed a 26% reduction in operation costs for each IVI performed in the office, which can be translated to a higher impact when considering the total number of IVIs performed over one year.
Conclusion
The use of the Operio mobile in an ophthalmologist’s office provides flexibility to perform IVIs, assuring patient safety, reducing healthcare personnel employment times, and the waiting lists for the patients, increasing the number of surgeries and improving the cost-effectiveness of the procedure.
(notizia pubblicata su journals.sagepub.com)