Global Health Asia-Pacific Best Hospitals Awards 2021 | Page 52

BEST HOSPITALS

HOSPITEL COVID-19 HEALTHCARE SERVICE PROVIDER OF THE YEAR IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC

FARRER PARK HOspiTEL
With the reported spike of COVID-19 confirmed cases at foreign worker dormitories , Singapore ’ s Ministry of Health ( MOH ) saw an immediate need to increase capacity for positive COVID-19 patients at facilities with optimised safety control measures .
Responding to the call , Farrer Park Hospital ’ s clinical team mobilised a multidisciplinary team comprising members from both hospital and hotel to convert One Farrer Hotel ( OFH ) into a temporary hospital facility for COVID-19 patients .
The team transformed five hotel floors , its surrounding common areas and corridors , and 120 rooms into a COVID-19 isolation ward within a month . As a result , we admitted the first batch of 24 patients to OFH on May 2 , 2020 .
In addition , we set up ‘ swab test operations ’ to support national efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 .
Innovating Hospital Care in a Hotel Setting The critical consideration in the initiative was to ensure clear segregation for our patients who are immunocompromised to continue their medical treatments safely at the Farrer Park Medical Centre and Hospital . Accordingly , we took the following steps to convert the hotel into a hospital : 1 . Became the first and only healthcare facility to pilot a hospital facility in a hotel setting for convalescent COVID-19 patients . We were also the first to launch the drive-through swab test .
2 . Capitalized on the vacant rooms to house the patients and the vehicular access in front of the hotel to increase capacity for swab testing .
The team at Farrer Park Hospital
3 . Upskilled hotel operations , housekeeping , and kitchen staff with necessary ward nursing skills and resources to keep the converted facility running as one of the 24 / 7 centers for COVID-19 patients at that time .
4 . The venue also doubled up as a patient monitoring and surveillance centre for patients ’ admission , stay , and discharge with a target of zero contamination . Upskilling and integration of clinical and non-clinical teams We immediately rolled out a structured training programme to train housekeepers , butler , guests ’ relations personnel , and the clinical team to ensure integration and quality of care . The nursing clinicians supervised the programme under the medical advisory of our infectious disease specialist doctor .
The programme covers donning and doffing of PPE , N95 mask fitting , perform-
ing nasopharyngeal swabbing , handling , and transporting nasopharyngeal swab specimens , handling waste , and monitoring vital signs jotting patient clinical notes , and code blue drills .
Scale-up equipment and IT infrastructure The IT team set up and replicated the same IT framework from the hospital into the hotel . As a result , patient monitoring data , records , and transmission were seamless from both locations . The IT team also coordinated and executed the setup of CCTV to send live feeds to the nurses ’ stations to monitor the patients ’ movements at respective floor corridors .
By June 8 , 2020 , the team successfully discharged all 202 COVID-19 patients admitted to One Farrer Hotel with zero infection for staff , doctors , patients , and the public .
50 NOVEMBER 2021 GlobalHealthAsiaPacific . com