Given the sudden crowding of hospitals that can overwhelm the system, one of the first difficulties being seen by city health systems is the need to determine who can be safely guided to manage their recovery at home, and who shall need priority hospitalisation. Such protocols need to be carefully integrated into the emergency transport and referral processes/workflows existing in cities. And many cities have their health services, transport services, helplines and such other important links in the chain managed by different departments with limited prior inter-departmental coordination that often requires bureaucrats to carefully navigate an integration process. Even when support is available through non-governmental organisations, plugging into these complicated navigation and workflows becomes more challenging than the technical content of the protocol.
In response to the ongoing steep rise in cases, the following protocol was prepared consultatively for the Karnataka Fights Corona initiative by volunteers. It will undergo adaptation was it is deployed with inputs from implementers/users in BBMP/GoK as it moves forward.
This is not a medical reference. Please validate/verify information before use in your organisation/scenario. Includes decision-making algorithms that make assumptions in good faith on the evidence-base available at the time of preparation
Other useful tele-triage resources
- World Health Organization. Regional Office for the Western Pacific. (2020). Algorithm for COVID-19 triage and referral : patient triage and referral for resource-limited settings during community transmission. Manila : WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific.
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