A team from the Northern Health and Social Care Trust, Antrim, has developed a model that was used to ensure sufficient stock of the different treatments required at the intensive care unit across the region during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The team modified a previously unpublished tool developed for planning during the swine influenza pandemic in 2009 but which was updated in 2020 because of the current pandemic. In order to determine the treatment requirements, the tool estimated the likely usage of all classes of drugs normally used in critical care based on the typical length of stay at ICU.
This information was mapped to available stock from the Trust and wholesalers and allowed for more effective procurement planning. The usage information was updated based on real-world data collected from ICU and the model used a traffic light system to identify the availability of individual drugs, that is, green (sufficient stock) to red (insufficient stock).
The authors conclude that the robustness of the model will increase and that it can be further refined based on evolving real-world data. In addition, they discussed how a similar approach could be adopted across a range of therapeutic classes and settings to assist medicine planning and preparedness during any future pandemics.
Reference
Hogg A et al. Informing critical care drug requirements in response to the COVID-19 pandemic Eur J Hosp Pharm 2020; doi:10.1136/ ejhpharm-2020-002368
