2020, Number 3
Arch Inv Mat Inf 2020; 11 (3)
Application of a ''respiratory symptom screening'' instrument for the early identification of COVID-19, in the personnel assigned to the Maternal and Child Institute of the State of Mexico
Pérez SM, Alcántara DJRR, Hernández ME, Medina SMES
Full text
10.35366/104804
Language: Spanish
References: 8
Page: 95-101
PDF size: 209.94 Kb.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: The pandemic produced by the emerging disease COVID-19 maintains the world's attention with an important health and economic impact making bigger the deficit in historically insufficient health resources, among which are the health personnel and in which the risk of infection is high, being the early detection of the disease necessary in order to establish isolation measures and control the transmission of the disease among the personnel. Objective: To validate the instrument "Screening for Respiratory Diseases", for the early identification of suspicious cases of COVID-19, in the personnel assigned to the Mother and Child Institute of the State of Mexico, which allows the decision making for the home isolation of the personnel with suspicion of the disease. Materials and methods: The screening instrument was applied by the occupational medicine personnel to symptomatic respiratory health personnel assigned to the Institute's medical units from April 16 to August 31, 2020, classifying the personnel based on the qualification obtained as a suspicious or non-suspect case of COVID-19, carrying out the confirmation of cases by means of a RT-PCR study. Results: The sensitivity of the instrument was 96%, specificity 29%, positive predictive value 54% and negative predictive value 83%. Conclusions: A study with a larger sample is needed to improve the validity and reliability of the results. Screening with a validated instrument that proves its effectiveness is an easy to implement and cost-effective strategy.REFERENCES