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COVID-19 Guidelines & Resources

SCGH Specific Guidelines

SCGH ED COVID-19 Guidelines
  • SCGH ED COVID Response Video, & other, Updates:
    • Charlie’s COVID Chronicles #7 – 27th May 2020 – The ED Escalation Plan
    • Charlie’s COVID Chronicles #6 – 22nd May 2020 – The Triage Sieve
    • Charlie’s COVID Chronicles #5 – 6th May 2020 – Dr Rippey clarifies the Mx of Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OOHCA) patients at SCGH ED during the COVID pandemic
    • Charlies COVID Chronicles #4 – 23rd April 2020 – updates on current COVID issues, main department flows, Obs ward flow, new green LG Obs ward flow, MET calls in green Obs ward and COVID escalation planning
    • My Charlie’s Stay – a letter for all Charlie’s staff from Dr James Rippey
    • Charlie’s COVID Chronicles #3 – 5th April 2020 – updates: imaging guidelines, respiratory procedure risk management, APO / COPD / asthma / CPR Mx in COVID era, ENT & Ophthalmology patient Mx, intubating the COVID patient, ventilator settings in COVID, transport procedures for the COVID patient, patient discharge advice and staff wellbeing!
    • Charlie’s COVID Chronicles #2 – 31st March 2020 – updates: initial assessment tools for COVID patients (developed by Lynda Vine), writing notes on Word and EDIS (Rippey /Hay) which replaces the notes chapter in CCC#1
    • Charlie’s COVID Chronicles #1 – 27th March 2020 update from Dr James Rippey – with thanks to Tor Ercleve, Nicole Hoskins, Nick Martin, Susie Mills and Megan Rayner (password protected – see your emails)
  • Triage:
    • Triage Patient Placement for Initial Assessment
      • ILI / Respiratory Sx’s – into Triage Lobby for initial assessment, then either Home / COVID Clinic / Orange or Red designated area in the ED
      • Non-ILI / Respiratory Sx’s – into main ED WR / FT WR / Green Resus or Green Assessment Bed / Green OBS
  • COVID Testing Criteria
    • WA COVID Clinic Testing Guidelines, OR
    • WA Health Care Worker Testing Guidelines (as per latest SitRep – internal),
      • “any healthcare worker with direct patient contact has a fever (≥38°C), or history of fever (eg. night sweats, chills) AND an acute respiratory infection (e.g. shortness of breath, cough, sore throat)” – as of 24/03/2020, OR
    • If outside testing criteria AND high clinical suspicion for an admitted patient, then d/w COVID Consultant x74611 (consultant to consultant in hours)
  • COVID Patient Admission Communication:
    • Call COVID Consultant via x74611
    • Booking Slip under Dr Kosky, Respiratory Medicine
    • COVID Assessment Team (COAT) Rounds (Resp / ICU / Anaesthetics) start ~11:30 arrive in ED ~12:00 to meet ED Duty Consultant
  • Transport of COVID Confirmed / Suspected Patients:
    • Into the ED – See ED COVID Triage Sieve #1 until 22/06/2020, then use ED COVID Triage Sieve #0 from 22/06/2020
    • Out of the ED to the ward
    • Quarantined Patients being discharged – need to inform Police Quarantine Management (phone 9323 5595 or 9323 5540) prior to discharge, and arrange SJA transfer back to quarantine facility – informing SJA that the patient is currently in enforced isolation / quarantine
  • ED Patient Flow:
    • Ambulance…
    • Medical / Surgical Inpatient Flow – Contact…
    • Mental Health Escalation Plan…
SCGH ED Infection Prevention & Control Practices
  • Patient
    • What Precautions (CDNA Australia COVID-19)
      • No AGPR’s / Not high secretions = Contact / Droplet Precautions
      • AGPR’s / High secretions = Airborne Precautions
    • See above: PPE & Procedures Permitted for Different Patient Categories / Areas (under Staff heading)
SCGH ED Health Care Worker Occupational, Health and Safety Advice
  • Health Care Worker with Respiratory Tract Illnesses (RTI’s)
    • If you experience “flu-like” symptoms you can call the dedicated WA Health Staff COVID-19 Call Centre on 1800 955 765
    • If COVID testing (see latest SitRep for indications), then isolate until test results (Self-quarantine and testing for COVID-19) – Test Results Enquiry Line 1800 313 223 (8am – 4pm)
    • If not COVID testing, then SCGH ILI Policy:
      • Influenza confirmed:
        • “should not return to work until either 72hours since commencing oseltamivir treatment, or 7 days have elapsed since onset of symptoms”
      • URTI / ILI:
        • “exclude from duty until afebrile and acute symptoms have settled (~3- 5 days)”
  • The following HCWs must not care for a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19 (as per SCGH Infection & Control Policy: Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Interim Policy):
    • pregnant women
    • individuals with chronic respiratory conditions including asthma (requiring regular preventative medication), COPD
    • mobidly obese
    • persons with chronic illness predisposing to severe disease such as:
      • cardiac disease, excluding simple hypertension
      • diabetes mellitus
      • chronic renal disease
      • haemoglobinopathies
      • immunosuppression, including that caused by cancers, medications or by HIV/AIDS infection
      • chronic neurological conditions
SCGH Other Departmental COVID-19 Plans
  • SCGH Respiratory
    • Respiratory Escalation Plan – there is one!
  • SCGH ICU
    • ICU Escalation Plan – there is one!
  • SCGH Infectious Disease
    • Pharmacological Management of Confirmed COVID-19 Patients – pending
WA Department of Health Guidelines / Updates

Global COVID-19 Resources

COVID-19 Data
COVID-19 Overview
International & National Agency Resources
FOAMed Resources
Consensus Statements by Professional Bodies / Societies