Battlefield Clinical Decision Units?
People familar with my writing know that I'm prone to going off on tangents.
Covid-19 is a massive topic. For example Covid-19 is actually an umbrella term. Covering both the virus and the illness it causes.
The effect of Covid-19 on the healthcare system of any one nation, let alone the global system, is a topic almost too large to comprehend. One where it is so easy to go off on tangents it rapidly becomes totally incoherent.
In times of panic and widespread concern I've found it's really important to calmly convey clear information.
So I really need to take the time to get my head around the topic. Before I start lecturing other people.
However there is one idea I've been playing about with.
The issue with Covid-19 is not that it makes people seriously ill. It's that it makes a lot of people ill at the same time. Leaving the healthcare system unable to cope.
This has got me thinking about the roughly 14% of patients who experience "severe" symptoms.
I appreciate that everyone is operating under the precautionary principle. However when push comes to shove those 14% of patients don't actually need to be in hospital.
What they do need though is to be in an environment where their condition can be closely monitored by healthcare professionals.
In British hospitals this is known as a Clinical Decision Unit (CDU). It is normally a small, 10 bed, area attached to an Emergency Department. Where patients can be monitored while decisions are made whether to admit them or not.
The British Parliament sits on Westminister Bridge. At the other end of Westminister Bridge you have St Thomas' Hospital. One of the main emergency hospital's in the city.
Across the street from St Thomas' Hospital you have a now empty hotel.
So I can't help but wonder whether it would be worth setting up a very large CDU in the hotel's ballroom or dining room. Patients with only severe symptoms are sent there and monitored.
If and when their symptoms escalate from "Severe" to "Critical" - e.g Respritory Distress becoming Respritory Failure - they then get admited to the hospital.
Covid-19 is a massive topic. For example Covid-19 is actually an umbrella term. Covering both the virus and the illness it causes.
The effect of Covid-19 on the healthcare system of any one nation, let alone the global system, is a topic almost too large to comprehend. One where it is so easy to go off on tangents it rapidly becomes totally incoherent.
In times of panic and widespread concern I've found it's really important to calmly convey clear information.
So I really need to take the time to get my head around the topic. Before I start lecturing other people.
However there is one idea I've been playing about with.
The issue with Covid-19 is not that it makes people seriously ill. It's that it makes a lot of people ill at the same time. Leaving the healthcare system unable to cope.
This has got me thinking about the roughly 14% of patients who experience "severe" symptoms.
I appreciate that everyone is operating under the precautionary principle. However when push comes to shove those 14% of patients don't actually need to be in hospital.
What they do need though is to be in an environment where their condition can be closely monitored by healthcare professionals.
In British hospitals this is known as a Clinical Decision Unit (CDU). It is normally a small, 10 bed, area attached to an Emergency Department. Where patients can be monitored while decisions are made whether to admit them or not.
The British Parliament sits on Westminister Bridge. At the other end of Westminister Bridge you have St Thomas' Hospital. One of the main emergency hospital's in the city.
Across the street from St Thomas' Hospital you have a now empty hotel.
So I can't help but wonder whether it would be worth setting up a very large CDU in the hotel's ballroom or dining room. Patients with only severe symptoms are sent there and monitored.
If and when their symptoms escalate from "Severe" to "Critical" - e.g Respritory Distress becoming Respritory Failure - they then get admited to the hospital.
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