in-patient contact tracing

Contact tracing of in-patients with COVID-19: Pilot Study

Sheffield Community Contact Tracers are pleased to report on a collaborative pilot study conducted jointly with Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust and Sheffield City Council with the help of third-year Medical students on placement with SCCT.

Hospital in-patients were an important group of patients that the Government’s test and trace service generally failed to reach. This contact tracing work was undertaken by Sheffield students, supervised by a consultant physician working with SCCT. Subsequently the work was done in conjunction with Sheffield City Council – so was a good example of multi-agency collaborative work in the face of a crisis. This model was used successfully in other countries and so is of international interest.

This pilot study found that around two thirds of hospital in-patients with Covid-19 were not engaged by NHS Test and Trace and that their close contacts were not advised by NHSTT to self-isolate. It suggests that face to face interviews can address this shortfall and that further collaboration will improve contact tracing for in-patients.

This study is available in the Journal of Infectious Diseases & Therapy

This study is now available on medRxiv

An article about the involvement of medical students in this project is available to read freee online in the Future Healthcare Journal: “From Pilot Study to Practice: Integrating Medical Students into Covid-19 Contact Tracing in a Hospital Setting”

Pilot Study Report – Click icon below to download

RCP Abstract Competition 2023 submission

The medical students involved in the pilot study were very pleased to be successful in applying to present their poster at the Royal College of Physicians 2023 conference. Their poster was one of seven included in the Covid-19 section of the abstract competition.

The Chief Executive of the RCP (Ian Bullock) was impressed with the work that SCCT had carried out as a volunteer organisation.

See below to read the poster they presented, and the abstract it relates to.

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