Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Preventing Some Covid Deaths As Simple As Sending A Text, Study Finds
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Penn Finds That Using Automated Texts To Monitor COVID-19 Patients At Home Saved Lives
Just two weeks after COVID-19 shut Philadelphia down in March 2020, Penn Medicine had already reengineered a program designed to monitor lung disease patients so that its staff could keep tabs on those suffering from the new virus at home. Doctors quickly realized there was a “huge swath” of patients who had tested positive but were not sick enough for the hospital — yet, said Krisda Chaiyachati, medical director of Penn Medicine OnDemand. By then, it was clear that people with COVID-19 who at first seemed fine could deteriorate rapidly. As a result, many were already extremely sick — sometimes too sick — by the time they got to the emergency department. (Burling, 11/16)
CIDRAP: Death Rate 68% Lower In COVID Outpatients Sent Text Message Check-Ins
An automated text messaging system for adult COVID-19 outpatients developed at Penn Medicine saved two lives a week during the first US pandemic surge, and users were 68% less likely than controls to die, finds a study today in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The text messaging system, COVID Watch, sent twice-daily automated text check-ins to outpatients who tested positive for COVID-19 from Mar 23 to Nov 30, 2020, at the Penn Medicine health system. Patients could report worsening symptoms to a small team of registered nurses 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (11/16)
CIDRAP: IDSA Issues Advice For COVID-19 PPE Use In Healthcare Workers
An Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) guideline panel published eight evidence-based recommendations for the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect healthcare workers against COVID-19, according to a paper yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases. The panel, led by a University of Washington at Seattle researcher, conducted a systematic review of the literature to determine the standards of PPE use in conventional, contingency, and crisis situations. The panel recommended that healthcare personnel caring for patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 don a medical/surgical mask or N95 respirator and eye protection but made no recommendation about the use of double gloves or shoe covers. (11/16)
