Affiliation:
1. Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital
Abstract
Abstract Introduction Telehealth and remote monitoring of patients of
patients with mild COVID-19 infection have developed rapidly in response
to the pandemic. Many healthcare systems have embraced telehealth for
remote clinical monitoring and pulse oximetry for enhanced monitoring.
Methods The experience of a large healthcare centre’s COVID Virtual Ward
was reviewed retrospectively with a particular focus on evaluating the
effectiveness, safety and utility of finger pulse oximetry within the
home. Data from a 2 month period in early 2022 during a BA1 Omicron wave
was retrospectively reviewed. 551 high risk patients were issued with
pulse oximeters for monitoring oxygen saturations within their home. All
patients received daily clinical review via telephone by a nurse or
doctor. The group was highly vaccinated with only 6.4% of the cohort
unvaccinated. Oximeters were promptly delivered via a courier service
across a vast geographical area. Results Pulse oximetry was well
utilised by most patients. Only 2.7% of the cohort demonstrated resting
oxygen saturations of <94% during their Virtual Ward
admission. Most patients reporting dyspnoea were able to be safely
managed without escalation to an emergency department due to reassuring
clinical and oximetry assessment. Home oxygen saturations correlated
well with saturations recorded within the ED, with no patients found to
have lower saturations compared with home saturations. Discussion Within
a high risk population experiencing COVID-19 infection, pulse oximetry
was a useful tool in clinical assessment and allowed a substantial
reduction in COVID-19 related ED presentations.
Cited by
1 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献