Title: Essential guidelines for covid-19 patient discharge instructions

Abstract

Introduction: Clinicians treating COVID-19 patients face a major challenge in developing effective communication with patients who are discharged to home in order to promote and enhance safety. The purpose of discharge instructions is to provide guidance from health care personnel involving discharging COVID-19 patients. SARS-CoV-2 positive or suspected of being positive patients discharged to home following encounters at health care facilities require specific or tailored recommendations for continued care at home to promote the safe SARS-CoV-2 recovery of themselves, their families, and others. Methods: A systematic literature-search of studies evaluating optimal performance criteria parameters was used to determine patient morbidity and mortality factors as they relate to both symptoms and signs of COVID-19. Discharge instructions were developed from 157 studies in response to the review of this broad-spectrum of literature. These instructions are key to educating patients in the parameters that require monitoring to determine disease improvement or the need for a medical reevaluation. Results: These guidelines were developed for patient education and achieve the following essential goals: assisting patients to provide a basic understanding of their medical situation; reducing the likelihood of complications by providing instructions which assist patients to know when to use available health services. Patient stress can be reduced by giving patients comfort through the understanding of how to respond to their condition changes.Conclusion: The COVID-19 has often created confusing for patients and their families. Clinicians must efficiently and effectively teach patients self-management strategies and what to expect when they return home and what to do when they experience possible changing conditions. The primary goal of the patient education discharge instructions (PED) is to provide the patient with understandable self-management strategies. These include prevention of disease transmission; prevention of complications by understanding the actions required to recover; and to know when conditions require medical reevaluation.