Shwaas - A Chikitsa Sathi

Shwaas is primarily designed to be used by frontline workers. By frontline workers we mean any individual who has been tasked or has accepted responsibility of guiding people with symptoms suggestive of covid. So main use of the app would be in a setting when a person has fever, cough, coryza, throat irritation, severe fatigue, bodyache, loose motions, loss of taste, loss of smell and seeks guidance from frontline health workers about next steps. With pandemics many non-health individuals are volunteering for this task and it's challenging especially in a situation when medical consultation costs a significant amount of time, money and infection risk. Shwaas App in addition to oxygen saturation has features of breath counting and 6 minute walk test which can identify early compensatory phase of lung involvement. Also it removes the need to remember critical cut-offs, list of red flag symptoms as well as list of comorbidities for a newly trained frontline worker.

In the initial session, the app offers detailed evaluation and helps triage a person with symptoms into Green,Yellow and Red categories. At the recommendation page, screenshots can be taken to save information for future reference or to be shared (via WhatsApp,Email etc) with others for consultation. During follow-up sessions, frontline workers with experience can use breath counter,pulse oximetry and 6 minute walk test features by skipping other questions to save time. We do not recommend skipping for new frontline workers to avoid errors.
Frontline workers can also train family members to use this app and inform her/him with a screenshot only when it indicates attention/danger. Medical skills video on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaKIMRvzgE0) can be used for self or family member training.

We envision this can be used by trained frontline workers, care-givers and even by citizens if they train themselves by video and teleconference. They can be from various government and non-government set ups.

In Villages:
- ASHAs (Mitanins) / Village health workers, if they have smartphones.
- MPWs, ANMs, ANM supervisors, ASHA facilitators, field level supervisors/coordinators, similar level staff of non-governmental organisations extending their support for health work during pandemic – most of them use smartphone already.

At Primary Consultation centers ( Health and Wellness Centers/ Family Practitioner Clinics/ Fever Clinics):
- In busy fever consultation facilities, paramedic staff or volunteers can use this App to screen patients and screenshots can be shared with treating physicians in advance.This tool can also be used to limit exposure time with patients by training patients to answer questions,use breath counter,pulse oximetry and 6 minute walk test features which will be useful not only before consultation but also to identify need for telephonic/ in person follow up.

At Homes:
Though the App will be used by individuals but, at a larger level, it can be expected to have a significant impact on reducing the hoarding of essentials/irrational use of drugs and ensuring timely care to those really in need.

Yes, you can definitely use the app. You can assess your infection status by answering the questions asked by the app along with the walk test and based on the answers and the final reading of oxygen level the app will suggest actions to be taken or not with indication in red, yellow and green colour.

Sure. You can use the app. In fact, it would be great if you will use the app early on to check whether you are safe or not at home and in case you need a referral or not. Even if you are not confirmed and suspecting covid, use of this app will help you identify that something is wrong or not and you need to consult a doctor or health facility.

There are high chances of saving a person who is in the Red stage if they have access to transport facilities.

We are adding the translations as and when demand is arising or we are finding translation volunteers to help us out. If your language is missing please send an email to us at shwaas-feedback@samanvayfoundation.org. If you are interested in volunteering to translate please let us know that too. If you know the language, translating Shwaas is a cakewalk!