Final triage methods to decide on home-isolation versus hospitalization in COVID-۱۹ pandemic: a challenge for clinicians

Objective: Final patient triage determines which patients can be home-isolated andwhich patients require hospitalization on the basis to predict the patient’s prognosismost accurately. Final triage is an important link in the clinical management chain of thecoronavirus disease ۲۰۱۹ (COVID-۱۹) pandemic, and a comprehensive review of variouspatient triage methods is very important to guide decision making and triage efficiency.Decision by clinicians about hospitalization or home-discharge is one of the main challengesin places with limited hospital facilities compared to the high volume of COVID-۱۹ patients.This review was designed to guide clinicians on how to address this challenge.Methods: In this mini review we searched scientific databases to obtain the final triagemethods of COVID-۱۹ patients and the important criteria in each method. In order toconducted searches a period from December ۲۰۱۹ to July ۲۰۲۰ was considered. All searcheswere done in electronic databases and search engines.Results: Findings revealed four current methods for final triage (decision-making regardinghome-isolation or hospitalization of COVID-۱۹ patients). These methods included ۱)demographic and background information, ۲) clinical information, ۳) laboratory indicatorsand ۴) initial chest CT-scan. Each of the aforementioned methods encompassed significantcriteria according to which decisions on the patient’s prognosis and final triage were made.Finally, by evaluating each final triage method, we found that each method had somelimitations.Conclusion: An effective and quick final triage requires simultaneous complementary useof all four methods to compensate for each other’s weaknesses and add to each other’sstrengths. It is therefore suggested to assure that clinicians are trained in all four COVID-۱۹patient’s triage methods and their useful criteria in order to achieve evidence-basedperformance for better triage (decision between home-isolation versus hospitalization).

کلیدواژه ها:

Coronavirus ، SARS-CoV-۲ ، Prognosis ، triage ، Emergency ، Infection