Your Call Is Important to Us: COVID-19 and Trends in Public Health Unit Call Service Utilization.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to analyze coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) -related call data at Metro North Public Health Unit, Brisbane Australia, over the 2020 calendar year to assist surge preparedness. METHODS: Call data were retrieved by call category or reference to "COVID" in summaries from the call management system at a large metropolitan public health service. Under a mixed-methods approach, qualitative data (caller, call purpose, and call outcome) were categorized with categories arising de novo. Resulting variables were numerically analyzed to identify trends by categories and time. RESULTS: Of the 3468 calls retrieved, 160 duplicates and 26 irrelevant calls were excluded. Of 3282 included calls, general practitioners, followed by the public, contributed the greatest call volumes. Health-care-related callers and the public made 84.2% of calls. Calls most frequently related to patient testing (40.7%) and isolation/quarantine (23.2%). Education provision accounted for 29.4% of all outcomes. A total of 11.8% of all call outcomes involved applying relevant case definitions, and 49.1% of calls were identified as potentially preventable through effective emergency risk communication and targeted call-handling. CONCLUSIONS: This study identified key drivers of public health unit phone service use related to the COVID-19 pandemic throughout 2020. The results highlighted where risk perception influenced call volume and provided important insights for future public health preparedness.

Factors Impacting Readiness to Perform Secondary Population-Based Triage During the Second Wave of COVID-19 in Victoria, Australia: Pilot Study.

OBJECTIVE: Pandemics generate such a significant demand for care that traditional triage methods can become saturated. Secondary population-based triage (S-PBT) overcomes this limitation. Although the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic forced S-PBT into operation internationally during the first year of the pandemic, Australian doctors were spared this responsibility. However, the second wave of COVID-19 provides an opportunity to explore the lived experience of preparing for S-PBT within the Australian context.The aim of this study is to explore the lived experience of preparing to operationalize S-PBT to allocate critical care resources during Australia's second wave of COVID-19 in 2020. METHODS: Intensivists and emergency physicians working during the second Victorian COVID-19 surge were recruited by purposive non-random sampling. Semi-structured interviews were hosted remotely, recorded, transcribed, and coded to facilitate a qualitative phenomenological analysis. RESULTS: Six interviews were conducted with an equal mix of intensivists and emergency doctors. Preliminary findings from a thematic analysis revealed 4 themes: (1) threat of resources running; (2) informed decision requiring information; (3) making decisions as we always do; and (4) a great burden to carry. CONCLUSION: This is the first description of this novel phenomenon within Australia and, in doing so, it identified a lack of preparedness to operationalize S-PBT during the second wave of COVID-19 in Australia.