Screening and adaptation of patient flow in the emergency department of a tertiary hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic: experience report

• Autor(a) principal: Oliveira, Breno Douglas Dantas
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: Khoury, Samer Heluany, Martins, Vanessa Gomes, Arnaud, Frederico Carlos de Sousa, Gaspardi, Ane Caroline, Rabêlo, Dieison Roberto Vieira
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Vigilância Sanitária em Debate
• Texto Completo: https://visaemdebate.incqs.fiocruz.br/index.php/visaemdebate/article/view/1632
• topic: Emergency; Screening; COVID-19; Emergência; Triagem; COVID-19

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic represents one of the greatest health challenges today and has a variety of symptoms and severity. From its form of contamination by aerosols and fomites, the progress of the disease represents an increased demand for assistance in emergency services, challenging managers to guarantee human and material resources for this demand, as well as defining safe flows to avoid nosocomial contamination, protecting patients and health workers. Objective: To report a flow adjustment experience of patients suspected of COVID-19, aided by a computerized system adapted to the screening procedure. Method: This is a descriptive study carried out in a public hospital in the state of Ceará - Brazil, based on the observation and discussion of strategies to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic by the management team in the emergency department. Results: From the reception and screening of patients, an adaptation of health services in differentiated flows to the non-suspect and suspected patient of COVID-19 represents an important strategy in guaranteeing security and resolvability in coping with the pandemic of COVID-19. Conclusions: The creation of an extrahospital screening, using a computerized tool, can be evidenced as a strategy to optimize hospital resources, avoiding the admission of patients with demands belonging to less complex health services or even at home, giving greater agility in monitoring hospital flows..