The COVID-19 Red Book is a Ready Reckoner to navigate through the pandemic for Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Healthcare Workers ~

 The Apollo Hospitals Group, Asia’s largest integrated healthcare provider, has developed a ready reckoner of Best Practice Guidelines for Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Healthcare Workers during this challenging period of the COVID pandemic. The COVID-19 Red Book summarizes evidence based best practice guidelines to support big and small healthcare institutions in making quick and timely decisions for diagnosis, treatment and management of COVID and non-COVID cases during the pandemic. The book also includes guidelines for non-clinical processes, policies, and protocols to improve efficiency and ensure a sound working environment. The guidelines will empower the healthcare institutions and the medical fraternity to react agilely to the evolving situation brought about by the second wave of the COVID pandemic.

Ms. Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Group said, “The pandemic has led to a dynamic environment where understanding of the virus and mitigation factors are changing rapidly. In such a situation, it is important to deliver best standards of care as per the latest knowledge. The Red Book encapsulates a standard protocol of managing COVID-19, making these available for the benefit of everyone in solidarity of our fight against COVID. The Red Book is the culmination of Apollo’s 38+ years of expertise in healthcare combined with our experience of being at the forefront in battling COVID-19

“As we face the second wave, healthcare professionals will face challenges in delivering active and effective processes to tackle the rising number of cases coming to the hospitals, continuously evolving restrictions, and new protocols for management of cases. The Red Book will serve as a guide to healthcare institutions in the implementation of responsive practices with roles, structures and processes clearly marked out. With up-to-date information on guidelines, the Red Book will enable healthcare institutions to navigate through these testing times and galvanize their response to meet any exigencies that the current situation may throw up.”

The Red Book is part of Project Kavach, a comprehensive strategic approach to the COVID pandemic launched by the Apollo Hospitals Group during the initial phases of the pandemic. Project Kavach encompasses all aspects from information, screening and assessment, testing, to readying the infrastructure for quarantine for the asymptomatic positive cases and treatment facilities for the mild, moderate and severe cases. It also includes a focused communication strategy using technology platforms for intra-hospital communication as well as with all connected nursing homes and all referral doctors with credible information regarding COVID-19. The Red Book takes this forward by facilitating the sharing of Apollo Hospitals’ experience in best practices so that doctors and nursing homes can be prepared for handling the evolving COVID-19 situation.

The Red Book includes detailed guidelines that encompass all aspects from outpatient screening and fever clinics, collection of specimens, non-clinical management protocols, best practices in infection prevention and control, process flows, patient admission, isolation protocols, staffing, prophylaxis for healthcare workers, psychological safety and mental well-being of patients and staff, medical record documentation, as well as best practices in care for patients including severely-ill and critically-ill patients for timely, effective, and safe management of patients. It also includes a set of checklists for every department that will help healthcare organizations negotiate through the complex and demanding workload and guide them to manage better in this pandemic.