Medical staff at a community treatment center in Mungyeong, 180 kilometers southeast of Seoul, monitor COVID-19 patients quarantined at the facility on March 12, 2020. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 1 (Korea Bizwire) — The Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) announced on Tuesday that its community treatment center designed to treat COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms confirmed the potential of ‘untact diagnosis’ through the use of state-of-the-art information technology.
The newly-coined term ‘untact’ refers to non-face-to-face contact.
SNUH ran a COVID-19 community treatment center in Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province from March 5 to April 9. A total of 118 COVID-19 patients who either had mild symptoms or were asymptomatic were treated there.
Hospital officials said they had confirmed the safety and efficiency of untact diagnosis through the application of a state-of-the-art epidemic management system at the community treatment center.
The hospital measured the electrocardiogram, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, heart rate and breathing rate of the patients hospitalized at the community treatment center via wearable devices.
The data was shared on a real-time basis through the hospital’s information system. Medical staff in Seoul were able to check the state of the patients in Mungyeong through a mobile app.
The hospital set up a digitalized status board for the patients hospitalized at the community treatment center that enabled the medical staff to monitor the state of all patients at the same time.
Communication between medical staff and patients was also promoted through an electronic medical interview system and a mobile app available exclusively to patients.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
