Capita Healthcare Decisions has developed a new triage solution to help healthcare providers and professionals assess patients with suspected Zika virus symptoms and enable them to provide the most appropriate advice.
The Zika virus is currently recognised as a public health emergency of international concern by The World Health Organization*.
The new triage solution will sit within Capita Healthcare Decisions’ internationally renowned clinical triage tools, enabling patients, their relatives and clinicians to check symptoms and concerns against clinically robust criteria.
The Zika triage solution has been developed to provide people with the clinically validated reassurance and advice they need if they have been in an area affected by the Zika virus or are concerned about someone who has. The Zika triage solution is being made available to all of Capita Healthcare Decisions’ clients, supporting more than 320m individuals worldwide, including those in the worst affected areas, such as Brazil.
As well as being part of tools which support telephone triage provided by healthcare professionals, the new Zika triage solution will also be available for use directly by patients and carers to check their own symptoms and concerns, or those of someone they are concerned about using Capita Healthcare Decisions’ web-based self-triage solution. Supporting patients’ self-care in this way avoids medical facilities becoming overwhelmed, and means people potentially infected with the Zika virus can be treated in the most appropriate way.
Dr Charles Young, chief medical officer at Capita Healthcare Decisions, said:
“The agility of our software and our clinical expertise means we can and do react quickly and efficiently to developing healthcare emergencies. Our clinical systems are continually updated to take into account new advice and best practice so clinicians are able to offer the most up-to-date guidance. The aim with this new Zika-focused tool is to enable those who may have symptoms of the Zika virus to receive the most appropriate advice as quickly as possible.”
*http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/zika/en/
