Acute stroke care algorithm in a private tertiary hospital in the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic: A third world country experience

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Since the declaration of the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic, ensuring the safety of our medical team while delivering timely management has been a challenge. Acute stroke patients continue to present to the emergency department and they may not have the usual symptoms of COVID-19 infection. Stroke team response and management must be done within the shortest possible time to minimize worsening of the functional outcome without compromising safety of the medical team. METHODS: Infection control recommendations, emergency department protocols and stroke response pathways utilized prior to the COVID 19 pandemic within our institution were evaluated by our stroke team in collaboration with the multidisciplinary healthcare services. Challenges during the COVID-19 scenario were identified, from which a revised acute stroke care algorithm was formulated to adapt to this pandemic. RESULTS: We formulated an algorithm that incorporates practices from internationally devised protocols while tailoring certain aspects to suit the available resources in our system locally. We highlighted the significance of the following: team role designation, coordination among different subspecialties and departments, proper use of personal protective equipment and resources, and telemedicine use during this pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: This pandemic has shaped the stroke team's approach in the management of acute stroke patients. Our algorithm ensures proper resource management while optimizing acute stroke care during the COVID-19 pandemic in our local setting. This algorithm may be utilized and adapted for local practice and other third world countries who face similar constraints.