The Function of Bed Management in Pandemic Times—A Case Study of Reaction Time and Bed Reconversion

Chiara Barchielli (), Milena Vainieri, Chiara Seghieri, Eleonora Salutini and Paolo Zoppi
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Chiara Barchielli: Management and Healthcare Laboratory, Institute of Management, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, 56127 Pisa, Italy
Milena Vainieri: Management and Healthcare Laboratory, Institute of Management, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, 56127 Pisa, Italy
Chiara Seghieri: Management and Healthcare Laboratory, Institute of Management, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, 56127 Pisa, Italy
Eleonora Salutini: Department of Nursing and Obstetrics, Azienda USL Toscana Centro, 50123 Firenze, Italy
Paolo Zoppi: Department of Nursing and Obstetrics, Azienda USL Toscana Centro, 50123 Firenze, Italy

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 12, 1-8

Abstract: The last decade was characterized by the reduction in hospital beds throughout Europe. When facing the COVID pandemic, this has been an issue of major importance as hospitals were seriously overloaded with an unexpected growth in demand. The dichotomy formed by the scarcity of beds and the need for acute care was handled by the Bed Management (BM) function. This case study explores how BM was able to help the solidness of the healthcare system, managing hospital beds at best and recruiting others in different settings as intermediate care in a large Local Health Authority (LHA) in central Italy. Administrative data show how the provision of appropriate care was achieved by recruiting approximately 500 beds belonging to private healthcare facilities affiliated with the regional healthcare system and exercising the best BM function. The ability of the system to absorb the extra demand caused by COVID was made possible by using intermediate care beds, which were allowed to stretch the logistic boundaries of the hospitals, and by the promptness of Bed Management in converting beds into COVID beds and reconverting them, and by the timely management of internal patient logistics, thus creating space according to the healthcare demands.

Keywords: COVID pandemic; bed management; system solidness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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