What is a covid-19 severity product?
The human race has entered the age of the pandemic with gradual pandemic warning signs over the past decade eventually leading to covid-19 being the result. Thankfully covid-19 has not mutated into a more virulent and treatment resistant pathogen although statistically it is just a question of time.
Recently a med tech company developed a covid-19 severity product that enables doctors to quickly assess what stage of a covid-19 infection the patient is currently experiencing. This is critical to enable hospitals to balance resources such as oxygen tents while also helping to preempt sudden changes in the condition of the patient. For example, in the initial stages of a covid infection a sudden drop in oxygen levels can point to hospitalization being required and an oxygen supply to assist with fighting the pathogen. Later during the recovery stage and covid consolidation these systems are not needed. This is where a covid-19 severity product helps to identify through the autoimmune system response to the virus how it should be treated.
How does a covid-19 severity product work?
During hospitalization a covid-19 severity product is used to periodically check a patient’s condition through assessing secreted immune system protein markers. These markers change over an infection allowing these devices to identify the stage of the patient.
Essentially covid-19 severity systems us a cartridge-based ELISA system with all reagents needed already added reducing the preparation time needed by users. Blood is taken from the patient and injected into the cartridge; this is then placed into a small machine and the machine started. After around 10 minutes the results are presented and the cartridge easily disposed of.
At present 1 in 5 covid-19 sufferers will experience life threatening conditions worldwide. This could be averted with the correct understanding of the stage of the illness, reducing the time before correct treatments are applied. With covid-19 the time taken to move a patient to and from intensive care can make all the difference.
Wrong diagnosis of covid-19 severity may also lead to permanent organ damage and also reduce the life expectancy of a patient that recovers by 2 years in some circumstances.
Some useful benefits
As these machines have a small footprint they can be easily stacked on racks and are also highly portable. As it is likely that countries will face more challenges that are pandemic related, being able to quickly set up temporary workstations that are mobile will be highly useful. Medications being improperly prescribed will be reduced by approximately 60%.
In addition to reducing prescription wasted it improves turnaround on patients suffering covid and ensures that patients are moved or given resources according to the stage they are in battling covid-19 and freeing up intensive care beds with less chance of readmittance from poor judgement of a patient’s condition. If staff is a fixed resource, then it has to be better technology and workflows that are required to help reduce hospital overloading.
Summary
A covid-19 severity product will be useful for the current pandemic and the same system utilized in new pandemics as they occur, making them an investment that can help reduce operational costs and improve a patient’s chances to recover successfully from covid-19. Additionally, through leaner workflows and better treatment responses the faster peak loading can be dealt with and the less chance that medical staff will become sick or suffer from mental illness and are no longer usable by the hospitals as a resource.
At present many countries are looking to increase the number of permanent hospitals available in the next decade along with creating national training centers for new staff to replace losses during each wave. At present though staff shortages will become commonplace with the only option being the use of novel devices from a med tech company specializing in covid-19 severity products.
