Remote clinician-based home management of COVID-19 associated pneumonia in a resource limited setting

Abstract

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in an increased number of patients that require respiratory support in terms of oxygen and ventilation. Due to the burden on the healthcare system there has been a shortage of hospitals beds in both the public and private sector. This has led to many patients being managed at home. Currently there is no consensus regarding best practice guidelines in terms of treatment of this subset of patients.We hereby present a case of a patient who was treated using appropriate respiratory support (a combination of low flow oxygen therapy via nasal prongs or face mask as high flow oxygen was not available), oral corticosteroids and anti-coagulants managed by remote clinician intervention. We also include our home management protocol.