Can we do emergency research?

The COVIDEHPAD study of issues relating to confinement, end-of-life and death in EHPADs, linked to the Covid-19 epidemic in France was launched last March, in an unprecedented context. In order to gather testimonies from EHPAD staff, relatives and patients' families during the crisis, rather than afterwards, it was necessary to speed up the usual procedures for setting up research projects. A scientific advisory board and a group of investigators were set up very quickly. The researchers started work even before the funding, guaranteed by the Ministry, arrived¹. The fact that they mobilized quickly to collaborate, remotely, in a degraded working environment (during containment), even though they didn't know each other beforehand, showed their commitment and willingness to contribute to the research effort.

It seemed tricky to interview EHPAD staff in the midst of a crisis, against a backdrop of burnout, just as it did to solicit the participation of families cut off from their loved ones and the bereaved. However, the help of professional networks (learned societies, mobile palliative care and geriatric teams) and the researchers' personal networks was facilitating. In the end, the rate of refusal to participate in this study was no higher than that of a study on the same type of subject. On the contrary, some people showed a willingness to tell their stories, even spontaneously.

Data processing is just beginning, and the corpus collected is very substantial (250 interviews). The researchers are continuing to collaborate, remotely and face-to-face, in conjunction with the scientific advisory board, to analyze and interpret the results. These results could enable us to reconsider the organization of care in crisis situations, which is why expectations are so high. A rapid return is hoped for, while the epidemic is still ongoing. However, as much as the start-up and data collection phase could be carried out in a hurry during the epidemic peak, the analysis period is difficult to compress, to be able to guarantee the robustness of the results.

1. The COVIDEHPAD study is funded by the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation (MESRI), the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the French National Solidarity Fund for Autonomy (CNSA)

For more information:
Page dedicated to the COVIDEHPAD study on our site
Youtube channel of the Penser la pandémie seminar

Published October 8, 2020