Separate Fever Clinics Prevent the Spread of COVID-19 and Offload Emergency Resources: Analysis from a large tertiary hospital in China

Jiangshan Wang; Liang Zong; Jinghong Zhang; Han Sun; Walline Harold Joseph; Pengxia Sun; Shengyong Xu; Yan Li; Chunting Wang; Jihai Liu; Fan Li; Jun Xu; Yi Li; Xuezhong Yu; Huadong Zhu

An effective triage strategy also lowered cross-infection risks. As the number of FC patients grew rapidly, cross-infection prevention was a central concern. According to their COVID-19 contact history and clinical severity, patients were allocated to one of three specialized regions of the FC. First, patients with positive contact histories were suggested to keep a person-to-person distance of at least two meters before further history details were investigated, and only when all tests were reported negative could they leave the FC. Second, critical patents identified at the triage counter were immediately admitted to rescue rooms where experienced physicians would provide further assessment and initial resuscitation. Thus, before the results of the screening tests came out,patients were all treated as potentially infected. Once negative results were reported, they could be transferred to the ED resuscitation rooms; otherwise they would continue being treated in the FC or transferred to dedicated receiving hospitals for COVID-19. Third, FC patients could now begin to receive initial treatment(s) as soon as possible without waiting for transfer to the ED.