Twice-daily oxygen saturation checks with a pulse oximeter are recommended for patients with COVID-19 and any risk factors for serious illness, including all unvaccinated patients, under new RACGP guidelines. 

With the treatment of cases expected shift dramatically towards general practice next year, this week the RACGP released its new guidelines for treating a COVID-19 positive patient in the practice and in the patient’s home.

It includes suggestions that, prior to a consultation at the practice, all soft furnishings and non-essential items from exposed surfaces are removed from the consult room and that doctors tape a line on the floor 1.5m from their chair as a physical indicator for social distancing.

But face-to-face consults, either a home visit or at the practice, should only be considered only when “absolutely necessary”, it says.