Checklist for hospitals preparing for the reception and care of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) patients

Guidance
Cite:

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Checklist for hospitals preparing for the reception and care of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) patients. ECDC: Stockholm; 2020.

This document supports the public health preparedness planning for hospitals with regard to novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

This checklist is based on the current knowledge of the COVID-19 outbreak and the evidence available.

ECDC will update this checklist should new relevant information become available.

Executive summary

This checklist has been developed to support hospital preparedness for the management of COVID-19 patients. The elements described in the list may not be applicable to all hospitals and may need to be adapted to the specific characteristics of the hospital, the individual national health system, legislation and community where the hospital is located.

Elements to be assessed have been divided into the following areas:

  • Establishment of a core team and key internal and external contact points
  • Human, material and facility capacity
  • Communication and data protection
  • Hand hygiene, personal protective equipment (PPE), and waste management
  • Triage, first contact and prioritisation
  • Patient placement, moving of the patients in the facility, and visitor access
  • Environmental cleaning

For each area mentioned above, the elements or processes were identified and the items to be checked are listed below.

A procedure for the self-auditing of compliance with this checklist should be considered.