Hospital based autonomous pre-clinical screening of COVID-19: An emergency triage using a vital signs recording system, Paris-Ile de France region

The COVID-19 pandemic, has had a dramatic toll worldwide on the populations but also has been essentially supported by the existing public health system, particularly hospital-based emergency wards and intensive care units.

In France, the first cases were identified on the 24^th of January 2020. The first epidemic sprout emerged in the Eastern part of the country and spread in two weeks towards the center to the Paris-region where it peaked on the 14^th of April 2020. In Paris and the region around it, the intensity of the epidemic has increased significantly to have a strong impact on all public and private hospital systems in a few weeks.

During France’s 2020 COVID-19 epidemic, a private hospital went into a major organizational change of its Emergency Department which mainly included the use of a Telemedicine Booth for vitals automatic recording during triage procedures.

The present study describes the organizational scheme adopted by the hospital and discusses the data of 1,844 patients that attended the facility over a month. While among them, 766 patients were engaged in a automated triage process supported by a Telemedicine Booth. Patients’ clinical characteristics are comparable to those found in international literature during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The use of the Telemedicine Booth as a screening process facilitated patients’ flow. It usefully participated in the patient rapid orientation, relieving the hospital emergency department, actively contributes in a safe and secure environment highly trusted by the hospital staff and health workers. To our nowledge, the Telemedicine Booth use as a screening process during an epidemic constitutes the first contribution to such an innovative approach.