Download PDF
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Journal of Health and Allied Sciences NU 2023; 13(01): 077-082
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1748806
Original Article

Does SARI Score Predict COVID-19 Positivity? A Retrospective Analysis of Emergency Department Patients in a Tertiary Hospital

Baraa Alghalyini
1   Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2   King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
,
Ismail M. Shakir 
3   College of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
,
Muaz M. Wahed
3   College of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
,
Sultan M. Babar 
2   King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
,
Mohamed S. Mohamed 
4   Primary Healthcare Agency, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
› Author Affiliations
› Further Information
Also available at
   Permissions and Reprints

Abstract

Effectively triaging incoming patients while preventing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spread in any emergency department (ED) is a demanding and critical task that places a huge burden on frontline healthcare workers. The ED at our tertiary hospital utilized a slightly modified version of a formerly efficacious severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) screening tool for triaging patients presenting to the ED with respiratory illness. We conducted a retrospective chart review and included patients who were screened using the SARI screening tool and underwent a combined nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction swab for severe acute respiratory syndrome- related coronavirus 2 to determine COVID-19 positivity. Results from our study show that it may be warranted to remove the gastrointestinal symptoms (nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea) from the SARI screening tool and potentially adjusting the weights of the components in the screening tool. However, as data from additional studies become available, the current SARI screening tool could continue to be used as a screening tool to predict COVID-19 positivity and in triaging patients.

Keywords

COVID-19 - SARI screening tool - emergency department - triage - Saudi Arabia - tertiary hospital


Publication History

Article published online:
30 June 2022

© 2022. Nitte (Deemed to be University). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
A-12, 2nd Floor, Sector 2, Noida-201301 UP, India