Clinical Characteristics of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Patients in Vajira Hospital in Nursing Perspective

Abstract

In late 2019, there was a report of a cluster of unfamiliar pneumonia cases emerged in Wuhan, China, which then identified SARS-CoV-2 as the causative agent of COVID-19. This study aimed to study the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients in the Vajira Hospital and follow the data of critical COVID-19 patient to be informative for nursing. The study design was a retrospective descriptive study and relied on purposive sampling that was collected in record form from August to September 2020. We described clinical, demographic, radiological, and laboratory findings as well as followed the medical history of a critical COVID-19 patient. The results showed that there were seven patients with a median age of 35, comprising five men and two women. Two male patients developed severe disease, and one progressed to critical COVID-19. The chief complaints included cough, sore throat, fever, shortness of breath, and rhinorrhea. Both severe patients exhibited biomarkers indicating acute inflammation in the body. Notably, the patient with no comorbidities developed critical symptoms. The result of critical COVID-19 found that clinical characteristics encompassed ARDS, AGE, GIH, colitis, coffee-ground emesis, as well as MPC, and GGO. The following result revealed that most COVID-19 patients in our study presented with mild illness, while critical COVID-19 symptoms did not exhibit any identifiable risk factors. These results contribute to understanding the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients, enhancing the knowledge and management of nurses for handling the COVID-19 situation specifically according to an urban context and lifestyle.