RAPID: Availability and Utilization of Key Healthcare Resources during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Rural Texas

新冠肺炎疫情对城市和农村人口的影响截然不同。由于社区传播程度很高，人口稠密的大型城市中心在疫情初期经历了绝大多数的伤亡，但随着疫情在全国蔓延，农村医院也受到了影响。这笔快速反应研究(RAPID)赠款将支持收集时间敏感的数据，以记录乡村医院在大流行期间的防备水平。通过与德克萨斯州卫生服务部的合作，该项目将收集和存档四个创伤地区(两个农村，两个城市)的数据，以确定乡村医院面临的独特挑战和机遇。新冠肺炎预计最终将在有效疫苗问世之前覆盖农村社区，该项目有可能为公共卫生管理者提供决策支持，以便在大流行或其他大规模伤亡事件期间更好地管理关键资源。该项目将与德克萨斯州医疗卫生统计中心合作，收集德克萨斯州四个地区医院的新冠肺炎测试、病例报告、医院和重症监护病房床位、身份识别的入院和出院数据以及门诊程序的纵向数据。该项目还将通过采访医院决策者的操作决策来收集有价值的主观数据。通过从同时支持农村和城市医疗体系的地区收集这些数据，该项目将提供关于城市和农村医疗体系对新冠肺炎大灾难响应的差异的有用信息。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并已通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected urban and rural populations quite differently. Because of the high degree of community transmission, large, densely populated urban centers have experienced the vast majority of casualties in the early phases of the pandemic, but rural hospitals have also been affected as the pandemic spreads across the country. This Rapid Response Research (RAPID) grant will support the collection of time-sensitive data to document preparedness levels at rural hospitals over the course of the pandemic. Through a collaboration with the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), this project will collect and archive data from four trauma regions (two rural, two urban) to identify unique challenges and opportunities faced by rural hospitals. COVID-19 is expected to eventually reach rural communities before an effective vaccine is available and the project has the potential to provide decision support to public health administrators to better manage critical resources during a pandemic or other mass casualty event. Working with the Center for Health Statistics of the Texas DSHS, this project will collect longitudinal data regarding COVID-19 testing, case reports, staffed hospital and ICU beds, deidentified admission and discharge data, and outpatient procedures for hospitals in four regions of the state of Texas. The project will also collect valuable subjective data by interviewing hospital decision-makers about their operational decisions. By collecting these data from regions supporting both rural and urban healthcare systems, the project will provide useful information on differences in urban and rural healthcare system response to the COVID-19 pandemic.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.