Clinical management Assignment PDF

Screening and triage of
patients with suspected or
confirmed COVID-19

Learning Objectives
At the end of this lecture, you will be able to:
• Explain the COVID-19 care pathway.
• Describe screening, isolation and acuity-based triage as outlined
in the COVID-19 care pathway.
• Identify mechanisms by which a patient is released from the
COVID-19 care pathway.

WHO: Clinical management of COVID-19. Living guidance, 25 Jan 2021.
COVID-19 Care Pathway: Overview

Screening
• Screening is a process by which an individual is evaluated to meet
a standardized case definition.
• Screening can take place in many different settings.
• Screening has many different purposes (see next slide).
• Screening has a binary outcome.
• Screening for COVID-19 helps ensure safety of patients, staff and
the community, and is the first step in the COVID-19 care pathway.

Screening: Role in healthcare
• Screening improves patient care. It allows for:– Early identification of suspected cases.
– Appropriate testing.
• Screening improves safety for patients, staff and community by ensuring appropriate:– Flow of patients through healthcare system by risk.
– Isolation of potentially positive cases from others.
– Infection prevention and control measures.
• Screening systems should be:– Appropriate to infrastructure.
– Appropriate to resources.
– Appropriate to the prevalence of disease.
– Appropriate to volume of patients.
– Acceptable to the community.

Persons access the health system from a variety of points.
Example: A health post, clinic, emergency unit, pharmacy, in the
community via community health worker or telemedicine
At every entry point, a health worker screens each person for
COVID-19.
oA series of questions done at a distance
oA person screened positive becomes a suspect case, andenters the COVID-19 pathway.
oSee the WHO COVID-19 website for the most-up-to-date global case definitions.
Others are screened out of the COVID-19 care pathway, and
should seek care per routine protocols.
COVID-19 Care Pathway: Screening