Source: Piedmont in Shape
The protocol for the home care of Covid patients carried out by the Special Continuity Care Units (Usca), by general practitioners and by free choice pediatricians has been updated .
To illustrate the new Regional Minister for Health, Luigi Genesio Icardi : “We introduce the use of hydroxychloroquine in the early stage of the disease, along with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and vitamin D. In addition, we foresee the possibility of activating ‘Usca clinics’ for diagnostic tests otherwise not executable or difficult to carry out at home, optimizing the professional resources and materials available “.
“We are convinced, because we have seen it in the field since the first wave, that in many cases the virus can be fought very effectively by treating patients at home.– Icardi specifies – It does not mean simply prescribing paracetamol over the phone and staying in watchful waiting, but taking care of patients at home.
We were among the first, last year, to sign a protocol shared with ASL, Prefectures and trade organizations of general practitioners and paediatricians of free choice. The goal is to avoid that hospitalizations, as well as prolonged hospitalizations beyond the actual clinical need, of people who can be treated at home determine a consistent occupation of beds and the impossibility of providing assistance to those in more serious conditions and with other pathologies of greater complexity “.
Another novelty is the possibility of setting up hospital / district “Usca clinics”, in order to allow the monitoring of patients on a regular basis and to offer a package of services for a more appropriate diagnosis and staging of the disease.
Places where you can perform medical examinations, blood sampling, urine deliveries and collection for complete examination, saturation monitoring and possible blood gas analysis, electrocardiograms, thoracic ultrasound scans, nasopharyngeal swabs for molecular and antigenic tests, activation of preferential paths with direct sending to Radiology to perform chest x-rays and CT scans.
At the Usca there is also the support of a psychological service, carried out remotely using the telemedicine stations activated in the district and consisting of video calls with the patient and the family unit.
With regard to the recommended therapeutic measures, alongside heparin, steroids and antibiotics, the Piedmontese protocol introduces non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, Vitamin D and hydroxychloroquine, after the Council of State has allowed their prescription (off label) under specific responsibility and under strict control of the doctor.
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