Suggested solutions to enhancing the capability and capacity of fever clinics
To improve the capability and capacity of fever clinics in China for the combat of pandemic, we recommended several countermeasures accordingly. First, more fever clinics are expected to be established and activated promptly as a strong first-line of defense for the fight against pandemic. To enhance the service of quality, formal and professional training should be strictly and regularly implemented before healthcare workers are sufficiently educated and allowed to appear in fever clinics. Before deciding to set up fever clinics, constructive demands and adequate budgets also need to be taken into account, especially given their specific purposes of triaging potentially infected patients and minimizing the nosocomial infection risk that require quarantine spaces and high-standard ventilated condition. Moreover, how to standardize the evidence-based procedures in fever clinics requires further research. It is of great importance for the policy-makers to fully ensure the sufficient supplies of personal protective materials in fever clinics, which essentially is an ethical requirement. Notwithstanding being challenging, how to reserve and allocate the equipment in a state of preparedness becomes an urgent topic for the government and healthcare system to address such pandemic in the future. Likewise, how to promote self-protection awareness of the healthcare system and individuals warrants further investigation, training and endeavors to ensure occupational safety and control nosocomial infection risk. Furthermore, efforts to adequately guide the surge of patients into fever clinics and to rapidly expand the capacity of existing fever clinics when needed, may be another worthwhile exploration to further enhance their functional roles in triaging patients and control nosocomial infection risk.
Conflict of Interest : None declared.