Imagine there is suddenly an outbreak of a new virus that has never before been encountered.
Imagine the processes that would have to be followed to make sure all new cases of the virus are reported and being managed both efficiently and responsibly.
Imagine the need to make sure all appropriate health agencies and stakeholders have access to all the information they need as soon as they need it.
Well, unfortunately today there’s no real need to use our imaginations. COVID-19 is spreading in many countries of the world and the entire medical community is doing its best to hold it at bay while searching for a vaccine.
The reporting and management of COVID-19 cases are critical to making sure that numbers remain accurate and health care officials continue to have the most up-to-date picture of the situation.
Information sharing between various health agencies is a largely important factor when it comes to both the management of the crisis as well as the timely and efficient decision making that needs to happen on a daily basis.
What if the entire case management process could be managed through a single platform to help facilitate this vital information sharing process through the creation of a common operating picture - from recording the cases to communicating with appropriate stakeholders?
With SimplyCast’s all-in-one COVID-19 Emergency Communication and Management Solution, it is entirely possible to form a multi-agency, shared common operating picture that will display updated reporting data in near real-time so fast and efficient decisions can be made as soon as they’re needed.
Here is a brief overview of how the management process could work in the event the self-isolation is needed:
Step 1: Registering and Mapping a Possible Case
A health care practitioner sees a patient with COVID-19-like symptoms and conducts the first level of screening. Then they use a SimplyCast form to collect the patient’s contact information to store in the system to register the possible case.
Next, a Health Director conducts the second level of screening for the patient and fills out an additional form to add the new possible case to the SimplyCast mapping interface, allowing all stakeholders to see the new information.
Step 2: Self-Isolation is Required
The Health Director determines the patient needs to self-isolate for 14 days and a swab is taken and sent to the lab for analysis. If the patient is not currently on-site for an in-person swab sample, a SimplyCast recall request can be sent to a paramedic to retrieve a sample from the patient at their residence. Recall responses are displayed in near-real-time on the common operating picture dashboard so officials can see what is going on.
Step 3: Positive Confirmation is Received
Once a positive result comes back from the lab, the contact forms will need to be updated with the new information. The mapping interface will now show a record of a confirmed case rather than a possible one.
Regions can be drawn on the map to highlight areas where there may be potential outbreaks, which will increase the overall situational awareness of all appropriate parties and ensure additional measures are taken if required.
Step 4: Quarantine Alerts and Supplies Requests
Once the duty officer responsible for managing self-isolated individuals has been notified of the new case, they are able to send a pre-configured alert notification through the SimplyCast system to the newly confirmed case. This alert may contain important information about self-isolation requirements, a list of available resources, and/or a phone number to call to request supplies if necessary.
Supplies surveys can also be sent out through the SimplyCast platform via email or text message for those in self-isolation to fill out if they are in need of any kind of supplies – from groceries to toiletries to pet supplies.
Step 5: Status Updates and Supplies Deliveries
In addition, polls can be sent to health care personnel on the ground caring for self-isolated patients or the patients themselves to gather important status updates on their cases. Using the data collected from these status polls that is displayed in near real-time on the common operating picture dashboard, the managing duty officer can update case records on the map through the relevant update form.
Recall requests can be sent out to gather delivery resources to help deliver necessary supplies to those in self-isolation and using SimplyCast’s Live Survey polling application the delivery couriers are able to provide updates regarding which deliveries have been completed, allowing the managing duty officer to update map records as required.
Step 6: Ongoing Management of Cases
The managing duty officer is able to continue to manage the cases of those in self-isolation and maintain communication with them as well as health care personnel on the ground, in order to keep the common operating picture dashboard up to date with the latest and most accurate information so all stakeholders are kept in the loop.
Additional alerts can be sent to notify individuals of updated requirements, new measures, or reminders about how to access available information and resources.
What are the benefits of using SimplyCast’s COVID-19 management solution?
The use case outlined above involves many moving parts, and it doesn’t even cover the process for patient hospitalization. The benefits of being able to manage COVID-19 cases and any associated communication efforts through an all-in-one solution are limitless. Below, you can find just a few of them.
Optimizing Situational Awareness
Perhaps the biggest benefit of an all-in-one solution is being able to have all case information and data in a central location. Various health agencies are able to log into their own instance of the solution and can immediately see all the data that has been made available to them on their common operating picture dashboard.
Information can easily be shared between agencies and different access levels are available so that sensitive information remains secure. Any piece of data that has been shared can be unshared if necessary by the owner of the information.
Templated Communications
When dealing with a health crisis such as COVID-19, it is important that any notifications and communications that need to be sent out can be done so in a quick, efficient manner.
A benefit of using SimplyCast’s solution is the ability to create and save communication plan templates, complete with draft content and a contact set to send to. These messages can be quickly be modified if need be by the sender to reflect the current situation.
Near Real-Time and Centralized Reporting
Another benefit of using SimplyCast is the Command Hub interface, which serves as the common operating picture dashboard when managing data and communications related to COVID-19. This dashboard provides health care managers with a centralized view that contains reports for any and all communications sent out to patients at various times, as well as responses given to recall requests and live survey polls.
Statuses of monitored assets can be displayed on this dashboard as well as a way for health managers to be able to see at a glance which is not operational or unavailable.
Looking for more information?
If you would like more information about how SimplyCast’s COVID-19 Emergency Communication and Management Solution could assist with the management of COVID-19 cases, check out this one-pager which links to a presentation detailing even further the above use case, including the second scenario in which a patient requires hospitalization.
To request a demo of the SimplyCast solution, click the button below!
