Monitoring of patients on a COVID-19 ward
Tutorial presented by Paula Gallent, Ward Manager.
Patients with COVID-19 who are admitted to a COVID ward are likely to experience oxygenation failure, and therefore the important variables to monitor and record include FiO2 and pO2. This is different to the monitoring of patients in type II respiratory failure (or ventilatory failure), who should have their pCO2 and pH monitored for signs of deterioration. Patients with COVID-19 often experience a phenomenon called ‘happy hypoxia’ where they appear well, but their oxygen saturations are profoundly reduced and this is something to be aware of when monitoring these patients.
Alongside the digital monitoring of patients, it’s important to capture any changes to a patient’s oxygen requirements. Supplementary charts might be useful in this context, in addition to a NEWS chart, to see the trends in patient’s oxygen requirements. An example of a supplementary chart can be found linked below in the resources.
Monitoring of patients on a COVID-19 ward
Tutorial presented by Paula Gallent, Ward Manager.
Patients with COVID-19 who are admitted to a COVID ward are likely to experience oxygenation failure, and therefore the important variables to monitor and record include FiO2 and pO2. This is different to the monitoring of patients in type II respiratory failure (or ventilatory failure), who should have their pCO2 and pH monitored for signs of deterioration. Patients with COVID-19 often experience a phenomenon called ‘happy hypoxia’ where they appear well, but their oxygen saturations are profoundly reduced and this is something to be aware of when monitoring these patients.
Alongside the digital monitoring of patients, it’s important to capture any changes to a patient’s oxygen requirements. Supplementary charts might be useful in this context, in addition to a NEWS chart, to see the trends in patient’s oxygen requirements. An example of a supplementary chart can be found linked below in the resources.
Resources
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