A tool for the management of personal protective equipment during COVID-19 pandemic: Abderrahmen Mami Hospital case study

INTRODUCTION

The COVID-19 pandemic is causing management difficulties in the Tunisian healthcare system inventory management and the supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

AIM

Calculate the number of PPE needed for MAMI Hospital Ariana (dedicated hospital to COVID patients) to avoid stock-outs.

METHODS

This study proposed a calculation method of the PPE needs for the intensive care and pneumology departments. We developed a mathematical formulation of the number of PPE needed according to the number of visits per medical and other teams, their types, the number of patients, and the validity of each type of PPE.

RESULTS

Considering as input data: the number of visits for the different intervening teams (medical, paramedical, worker or other), the capacity of the different services (number of beds), the average length of stay of patients, the validity duration of an equipment and urgent visits, the developed model generates the required number of PPE (especially surgical masks, FFP2 masks, disposables gowns and coveralls). This allows to calculate the number of personal protective equipment (PPE) needed by the Mami hospital's pharmacy in this period of COVID-19 crisis.

CONCLUSION

Our configurable application allowed us to calculate PPE requirements for the intensive care and pneumology departments and estimate their use duration.

[Management of flows and supply shortages of health products in hospitals during the COVID-19 crisis]

The hospital pharmacy is a medico-technical department within the hospital which has been significantly affected by the COVID-19 crisis. It has been a crucial element in the supply and flow management of medicines and medical devices. The shortage of medicines, and in particular of five molecules essential for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, has resulted in stocks being managed on a national level in order to address these new and unknown challenges. Adaptability will remain the key word to describe the action of hospital pharmacies during this crisis.

[Analyze of the performance of procurement and distribution system of antiretroviral, antituberculosis and antimalarials drugs in Benin in 2016]

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to analyze the performance of procurement and distribution system of antiretroviral, antituberculosis and antimalarial drugs in Benin.

METHODS

We carried out a cross-sectional study in 2016. Data on the procurement, storage and distribution of drugs were collected by either individual interview or observation of storage sites at the central procurement center for essential medicines (CAME) in Benin. Compliance with the norms of the procurement and distribution of the products was appreciated. At the operational level, order satisfaction, drug expiry and stock status of the targeted health programs were measured based on the participants statements.

RESULTS

Three workers of the CAME and 76 of health programs were surveyed. According to the norms, malfunctioning impaired the system of the procurement, storage and the distribution of the products. At the operational level, our study participants reported that antiretroviral drug orders were satisfied in 83%, drugs were distributed within three months of their expiration date in 26- 33%, and the CAME often ran out of antiretroviral drugs (stock-outs)in 69%.

CONCLUSION

Malfunctioning impaired the system of the procurement, storage and the distribution of antiretroviral, antimalarial and antituberculosis drugs. These dysfunctions negatively affect the performance of the system.