Module

Preparing for and managing patients

with COVID-19
Icebreaker
• Introduce yourself introduce to each other, your name, where you
come from and what work you do at present.
• In your small group, share your own experience of dealing, both
personally and in your community, with the available information and
perceptions of COVID-19
• This could be a stressful time for many health care workers, who are
worried for the welfare of their families and feel the anxiety of putting
their own health at risk.
Patient scenario
• Ms Nomathemba Zulu is a 61 year old. She lives in Khayelitsha and works as a
childminder for a couple with a 5 year old child, one of whose parents is an
essential worker. They live in Mowbray and NZ travels there daily.
• On the day she developed symptoms of fever, cough and sore throat, she informed
her employer and stayed home. She presented at her local clinic on the following
day. She is aware that there are cases of COVID-19 in her local community. She is
being treated for hypertension with enalapril 5mg and hydrochlorothiazide (HCT)
12.5mg daily. She is obese with a BMI>35. She is HIV negative.
• On presentation her T is 38.1°C, RR 24, no shortness of breath with no added
sounds. Her pulse is 110 bpm and her BP is 145/94 mmHg. Physical exam is
otherwise unremarkable.
Activity 1:

In your small group, discuss:

• What is the incubation period for COVID-19 and why is it important
in understanding how this disease has spread so widely?
• What do you know about the typical clinical presentation of this
infection?
ACTIVITY 2
• Given the concern about COVID-19, discuss in your small groups how you would
evaluate Ms NZ.

• Respond to these questions:

• What are the key screening questions you might ask?

• What other conditions should you consider in a patient presenting with these
symptoms?

Resource document: PACK-COVID-19-WC-2020-05-22

Group Answer Slide
ACTIVITY 3

Complete on-line questionnaire

Provider role & patient contact IPC strategy: preferred PPE

Doctor examining a patient suspected of having

COVID-19

Nurse collecting an upper respiratory tract sample

from a patient (i.e. placing a Dacron/rayon swab in
oropharynx or nasopharynx)

Occupational therapist consulting a patient not

suspected of COVID-19

Speech therapist consulting a patient under

investigation (PUI) for COVID-19

Community health care worker escorting a patient

with confirmed COVID-19 from outpatient clinic to
the hospital emergency department

Physiotherapist doing chest physiotherapy on a

COVID-19 patient on high flow oxygen

A patient with HIV, diagnosed with confirmed Gene

Xpert TB (sputum AFB++) and COVID-19
Patient scenario
• Ms Nomathemba Zulu is a 61 year old. She lives in Khayelitsha and works as a
childminder for a couple with a 5 year old child, one of whose parents is an
essential worker. They live in Mowbray and NZ travels there daily.
• On the day she developed symptoms of fever, cough and sore throat, she informed
her employer and stayed home. She presented at her local clinic on the following
day. She is aware that there are cases of COVID-19 in her local community. She is
being treated for hypertension with enalapril 5mg and hydrochlorothiazide (HCT)
12.5mg daily. She is obese with a BMI>35. She is HIV negative.
• On presentation her T is 38.1°C, RR 24, no shortness of breath with no added
sounds. Her pulse is 110 bpm and her BP is 145/94 mmHg. Physical exam is
otherwise unremarkable.
Patient scenario, living context
• NZ lives in a four roomed house with inside wash basin, bath and toilet.
She uses her own room
• She shares the house with her daughter and her one year old
grandchild. Her daughter is a professional nurse working in a private
hospital
• She also shares the house with her son who works at a call centre and is
being fetched daily by his employer.
• On the premises is a shack where her other son and his partner stay
with their two children. They use the kitchen and bathroom facilities
inside the house.
ACTIVITY 4: Ms NZ meets criteria for COVID-19
testing
In small groups, discuss what would you do under the following
situations in each of the following scenarios:
• Scenario #1: You decide she is sufficiently sick that she needs to be
admitted but you do not have access to COVID-19 testing.
• Scenario #2: You think she may be able to go home; you can test her
now before she goes home (but the test result will not be available
until tomorrow).
• Scenario #3: You decide she is well enough to go home but you do not
have access to COVID-19 testing.
Group Answer Slide
ACTIVITY 5
If a decision is made to discharge Ms NZ home, what are
the key recommendations that you will want to
communicate to her (and her caregiver)?

Role play how you would give advice on homecare to the patient.

Choose one person to play the role of the health care provider and
another to play the role of the patient.

Refer to the resource document entitled:PACK-COVID-19-WC-2020-05-22.

Patient scenario
• Ms Nomathemba Zulu is a 61 year old. She lives in Khayelitsha and works as a
childminder for a couple with a 5 year old child, one of whose parents is an
essential worker. They live in Mowbray and NZ travels there daily.
• On the day she developed symptoms of fever, cough and sore throat, she informed
her employer and stayed home. She presented at her local clinic on the following
day. She is aware that there are cases of COVID-19 in her local community. She is
being treated for hypertension with enalapril 5mg and hydrochlorothiazide (HCT)
12.5mg daily. She is obese with a BMI>35. She is HIV negative.
• On presentation her T is 38.1°C, RR 24, no shortness of breath with no added
sounds. Her pulse is 110 bpm and her BP is 145/94 mmHg. Physical exam is
otherwise unremarkable.
ACTIVITY 6
Your clinic supervisor informs your team there have been 10 confirmed
cases of COVID-19 in your district.
None of them have travelled outside of the local community. You
wonder what public health interventions can be introduced to slow the
spread.
In small groups, discuss public health strategies to contain or mitigate
the spread of COVID-19 given the concern there is increasing
community spread.
Group Answer Slide
ACTIVITY 7

• Discuss how you can support each other as members of an

interdisciplinary team.

• If and when the epidemic evolves in your setting, what do you think
the roles of different health professions are or will be?

• Why is each profession so important to an effective public health

response?
Group Answer Slide
Reflection & Conclusion
Discuss strategies for health care workers to cope with stress and
anxiety during the evolving pandemic.
Resource document: Resource document: COVID-19-mental-health-PACK
Group answer: