FHS Covid-19 Handbook

Title

Clinical Sites

CS

This section applies to those FHS students working in the clinical space, as student practitioners and members of the health care team to which they are allocated during clinical rotations.

This COVID-19 pandemic is causing considerable anxiety among communities worldwide. Health sciences students and professionals are not immune to this anxiety, in particular for working in the clinical setting. Comfort and strength can be drawn, however, from applying principles of professionalism and ethics to define own behaviour and attitudes during these difficult times. To this end, the FHS Professionalism and Ethics committee has developed a set of principles that can be helpful to staff and students alike. 

Click here for Clinical Students in COVID-19 Crisis 2020 (PESC)

Click here for link to Hastings Center and Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics principles

The Wits FHS students are hosted at a wide variety of clinical sites, within the tertiary, secondary, district and community settings. As a member of the health care team, It is critically important that each student adheres to the rules and guidelines in place at their allocated site.  While the Faculty prefers students to be allocated to non-COVID and/or low-risk settings, there is no restriction for students to learn in one setting or another. The emphasis is rather on students' adopting  the appropriate mindset to infection prevention and control, and to own risk at any time. This approach should manifest in the correct practices and behaviours, not least of which is the proper wearing of PPE. 

Healthcare facilities differ in how they organise their COVID-19-related services. Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, for example, has colour-coded zones within the hospital/clinical setting to provide for COVID-19 screening (yellow zone), COVID-19 treatment (red zone) and general management of patients with normal hospital/clinical services (green zone). The PHC facilities in Johannesburg Metro are using a yellow, blue and orange color-coded zone arrangement. However, the principles are largely the same:

RISK

HOSPITAL (CMJAH)

CHCs/CLINICS/ District Hospital

Patients waiting to enter facility, COVID-19 screening area (Indeterminate Risk)

Yellow Zone

Yellow Zone

Patients screened asymptomatic for COVID-19 (Low Risk)

Green Zone

Blue Zone

Patients screened symptomatic, suggestive of COVID-19 (High Risk)

Red Zone

Orange Zone

Patients tested positive for COVID-19

(High Risk)

Specimen collection for COVID-19 and/or AGP setting

HOSPITAL AND CLINIC ZONES FOR PATIENT LOCATION, RISK & PPE

REVIEW OF PPE FOR ZONE AND RISK LEVEL