New Delhi: The Health Ministry releases the standard operating procedure for managing COVID19 emergency situations reallocating residents, PG students and nursing students including private hospitals.
Accordingly the hospital may be divided into three as non covid area, covid area for patients with mild to moderate illness and critical area as ICU.
Additionally, a triage area needs to be developed during emergencies where patients with acute severe respiratory illness will be admitted. Emphasising on training of medical professionals, the Health Ministry said it is also important to ensure linkage between the team providing training and the COVID-19 Task Force responsible for deployment of resident students.
SOP insists no resident be posted at any COVID-19 facility without undergoing an essential training module, as is being conducted by the hospital infection control team
The Ministry is also planning including the psychologists to be part of the training, to enhance motivation of participating residents.
The COVID-19 Task Force and faculty-in-charge for various levels of the facilities will decide the total number of individuals required per team / shift and the duration of a shift (depending on the need to wear personal protective equipment).
According to the SOP, the total number of individuals in a team can be modified based on patient load and or the proportion of critical patients. The numbers can be arrived on after the experience of the first few days of management and serve as a template for future planning.
According to the SOP, additional training must be given at the facility where the resident is posted – keeping the three levels of facility in mind. Hence, if there are two locations where screening takes place, the content of the facility level training must be the same, even if it is being delivered by different team leaders at the different physical locations. This will ensure that all key aspects of training are covered, irrespective of site of delivery and trainer.
The faculty-in-charge is required to ensure uniform level of training is devised and delivered.
The Health Ministry said it may rope in nursing students to manage the health crisis as the country is facing an unprecedented public health emergency.
Standard operating procedure insists that the need for more manpower is essential to handle the pandemic situation. If the need arises, students can be roped in to handle the crisis.
