Building a versatile medical test system in a pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic was unprecedented and forced countries to organise and combine resources and develop coordinated responses. Temporary systems were established with the support of researchers and other stakeholders. Dr Junna Oba, Assistant Professor at the Department of Extended Intelligence for Medicine at Keio University School of Medicine (KUSM) is devising methodologies for developing adjustable temporary systems that are quick and efficient to build, apply and dissemble when emergency situations have passed. KUSM helped to respond to the COVID-19 crisis by collaborating with basic science researches to reinforce the PCR testing system in hospitals. Among those involved in this effort were Professor Masako Toriya of Keio University Global Research Institute (KGRI) and Professor Koichi Matsuo from the KUSM's Collaborative Research Resources group. The researchers built from scratch a workflow for effective testing and information sharing. Since this time, the team has been working to build a cooperative network, developing a novel approach to planning, analysing and recording various processes and strategies to address emergency situations that will be shared with the wider healthcare community and policy makers. The researchers used systems engineering methods to launch an unprecedented collaborative system that offers the ability to gain an overall picture of the interrelationships between departments that are working together on the diagnosis, treatment and management of COVID-19.