Pre-hospital lowest recorded oxygen saturation independently predicts death in patients with COVID-19.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) results in hypoxia in around a fifth of adult patients. Severe hypoxia in the absence of visible respiratory distress ('silent hypoxia') is increasingly recognised in these patients. There are no published data evaluating lowest recorded pre-hospital oxygen saturation or pre-hospital National Early Warning Score 2 (NEWS2) as a predictor of outcome in patients with COVID-19.

'The incident triage area': a response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Bristol Royal Infirmary.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals nationwide have been presented with a number of potential challenges, including possible increased volume of patient attendances, acuity of illness and potential for patients to present with an infection that requires isolation. At the Bristol Royal Infirmary, an innercity teaching hospital that manages patients aged 16 and over, we present our response to these projected changes in ED attendances, with the initiation of the incident triage area (ITA). The ITA is a triage station situated outside the ED and staffed by a senior clinician, healthcare assistant and patient flow coordinator.