Institutional processes for the care of suspected or diagnosed COVID-19 patients Procesos institucionales para la atención del paciente sospechoso o diagnosticado con Covid-19

Abstract

Objective: Identify the implemented and/or modified institutional processes for the attention of suspected or diagnosed COVID-19 patients in a health institution of Cundinamarca. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried-out. The recollection of data was made through a review method of records of the institutional processes from an institution of second level of complexity, from March of 2020 to December of 2021. Next, the information was systematized in an Excel matrix that was previously designed, validated and applied. Results: It must be noted that as the main information, the institution has 80 established processes of which 41 were modified, corresponding to 51,25%; 24 did not have any modifications due to the pandemic, which is equivalent to 30%; also implementing 15 new processes that correspond to 18,75%. Conclusions: It was possible to determine that the main modifications were observed in the presence of a greater number of modified processes, since there was an immediate need that required to respond to the eventuality through the adaptation of previously standardized guidelines, which allowed to speed up the response to the event. Also, a significant impact was evidenced in ambulatory care due to the demand for the service, as well as in processes that were directly aimed at patient care. It was observed that the impact of COVID-19 significantly transformed the processes implemented by health entities, which led to make changes in the actions taken by the healthcare personnel; from there, this event allowed to examine important issues that had been made invisible.

Key words: COVID-19, processes, health, impact, prevention.

Key words: COVID-19, processes, health, impact, prevention.