RT Journal Article
T1 Hospital Epidemics Tracker (HEpiTracker): Description and pilot study of a mobile app to track COVID-19 in hospital workers.
A1 Soriano, Joan B
A1 Fernández, Esteve
A1 de Astorza, Álvaro
A1 Pérez de Llano, Luis A
A1 Fernández-Villar, Alberto
A1 Carnicer-Pont, Dolors
A1 Alcázar-Navarrete, Bernardino
A1 García, Arturo
A1 Morales, Aurelio
A1 Lobo, María
A1 Maroto, Marcos
A1 Ferreras, Eloy
A1 Soriano, Cecilia
A1 Del Rio-Bermudez, Carlos
A1 Vega-Piris, Lorena
A1 Basagaña, Xavier
A1 Muncunill, Josep
A1 Cosio, Borja G
A1 Lumbreras, Sara
A1 Catalina, Carlos
A1 Alzaga, José María
A1 Gómez Quilón, David
A1 Valdivia, Carlos Alberto
A1 de Lara, Celia
A1 Ancochea, Julio
K1 COVID-19
K1 app
K1 coronavirus
K1 e-medicine
K1 monitoring
K1 surveillance
K1 symptoms
AB Hospital workers have been the most frequently and severely affected professional group during the COVID-19 pandemic, and have a big impact on transmission. In this context, innovative tools are required to measure the symptoms compatible with COVID-19, the spread of infection, and testing capabilities within hospitals in real time. We aimed to develop and test an effective and user-friendly tool to identify and track symptoms compatible with COVID-19 in hospital workers. We developed and pilot tested Hospital Epidemics Tracker (HEpiTracker), a newly designed app to track the spread of COVID-19 among hospital workers. Hospital staff in 9 hospital centers across 5 Spanish regions (Andalusia, Balearics, Catalonia, Galicia, and Madrid) were invited to download the app on their phones and to register their daily body temperature, COVID-19-compatible symptoms, and general health score, as well as any polymerase chain reaction and serological test results. A total of 477 hospital staff participated in the study between April 8 and June 2, 2020. Of note, both health-related (n=329) and non-health-related (n=148) professionals participated in the study; over two-thirds of participants (68.8%) were health workers (43.4% physicians and 25.4% nurses), while the proportion of non-health-related workers by center ranged from 40% to 85%. Most participants were female (n=323, 67.5%), with a mean age of 45.4 years (SD 10.6). Regarding smoking habits, 13.0% and 34.2% of participants were current or former smokers, respectively. The daily reporting of symptoms was highly variable across participating hospitals; although we observed a decline in adherence after an initial participation peak in some hospitals, other sites were characterized by low participation rates throughout the study period. HEpiTracker is an already available tool to monitor COVID-19 and other infectious diseases in hospital workers. This tool has already been tested in real conditions. HEpiTracker is available in Spanish, Portuguese, and English. It has the potential to become a customized asset to be used in future COVID-19 pandemic waves and other environments. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04326400; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04326400.
YR 2020
FD 2020-09-21
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10668/24476
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10668/24476
LA en
DS RISalud
RD Apr 12, 2025