Benjamin Osei-Poku, Drexel University & Aasha Gupta, Drexel University
This event is part of the Decision Sciences Seminar Series series.
Location:
Presenter: Aasha Gupta
Title:** Analysis of Patient Volume and Diagnosis Distribution During the COVID-19 Global Health Pandemic
Abstract: COVID-19 is a viral infection with a broad clinical spectrum, ranging from asymptomatic infection to respiratory failure, and death. With the increase in COVID-19 related admissions to hospital systems, it is still unclear how this pandemic impacted the patient volume and characteristics. Crozer Health, a healthcare provider in Pennsylvania, creates daily lists of admitted patients that meet sepsis-related criteria. Using data captured in these lists between February and May 2020, the objective of this research project is to analyze patient volume and diagnoses before COVID-19 (before March 2020) and after COVID-19 (after March 2020) to answer two questions: i) did the sepsis patient volume change statistically significantly before and after March 2020, and ii) are the characteristics of the patient populations (before and after March 2020) statistically significantly different? Preliminary analysis results showed a statistically significant difference in the patient volume before and after March 5th. This research is an early stage project focusing on patient arrival patterns and diagnoses. Further research is required to understand how COVID-19 affects admitted patients with sepsis.
Presenter: Benjamin Osei-Poku
Title: Analysis of Uncertainty in Assigning observed Clinical Signals to Sepsis or COVID-19
Abstract: The coronavirus pandemic has had an impact on the ease of diagnosis detection and treatment of various conditions due to the uncertainty surrounding its mechanism of action and its effect on preexisting conditions. In clinical practice, it has been observed that many severe or critically ill COVID-19 patients developed typical clinical manifestations of sepsis. Understanding the mechanism of viral sepsis in COVID-19 is warranted for exploring better clinical care for these patients. Considering this is another life-threatening disease, it is important to identify similarities and differences between diagnosis of COVID-19 and sepsis to reduce the negative effect of wrong treatment as well as the economic burden associated with false diagnosis. The objective of this research project is to analyze clinical signs and treatment actions for patients admitted to Crozer Health prior to and after the occurrence of the pandemic and to distinguish between sepsis only patients and COVID-19 only patients using the daily admitted patient data.