A proposed scoring system for fast triage of COVID 19 patients using basic clinical parameters: Simple Clinical Parameter (SCIP) Score

Abstract

Abstract Introduction : Globally healthcare systems are jeopardized due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A fast and simple triage is very important for effective utilization of health care resources. We propose a new tool is for severity assessment of patients at the initial point of care. Objective: To propose a scoring method for fast triage of COVID 19 patients in predicting the level of care required by the patient Methods: The SCIP score is for patients who have been tested positive for COVID-19. This scoring system is useful to segregate the patients into different level of care based on values of clinical parameters like Pulse rate (PR), Respiratory rate (RR) and arterial blood oxygen saturation. The risk score ranges from 1 to 10. Lower the score more severe is the disease and hence more intense care is warranted. Result: Preliminary observation of SCIP scoring criteria is based on ten patients. On retrospective analysis it was observed that the level of care required by the patients was in correspondence with the score obtained by the SCIP formula. Conclusion: SCIP scoring system is an easy and rapid tool which may be helpful in early detection of severity and taking fast decision in the time of crisis due to COVID 19. Validation in more number of patients is required to establish the findings.