Implementation of Accompanying Family Management for Gastroenterology Patients During the COVID-19 Epidemic

The objective of this study is to explore the effect of implementing accompanying family management in gastroenterology patients during the COVID-19 epidemic. According to the guidelines for the prevention and control of COVID-19 issued by the National Health Commission and the Guangdong Provincial Health Commission, as well as the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University and patients’ demands, we implemented an accompanying family management system for gastroenterology patients. The management plan not only listed the permission criteria for accompanying family, but also offered escorts with COVID-19 nucleic acid testing, COVID-19 case screening, temperature measurement, symptom observation, health education, and health protection. The results of this study revealed the following main findings: From January 23 to April 23, 2020, a total of 438 inpatients and 113 family escorts were admitted to the hospital, who demonstrated 100% compliance with epidemic prevention and control measures, no infections, and an average score of 96.2 in the patient satisfaction survey. It can be concluded that the establishment and strict implementation of an accompanying family management system together with good epidemic prevention and control practices not only substantially reduces the accompanying family rate without compromising the quality and safety of patient care, but also effectively prevents in-hospital infections.