Emergency Center Curbside Screening During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Retrospective Cohort Study.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-21-2020

Publication Title

JMIR Public Health Surveillance

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a global pandemic that has placed a significant burden on health care systems in the United States. Michigan has been one of the top states affected by COVID-19.

OBJECTIVE: We describe the emergency center curbside testing procedure implemented at Beaumont Hospital, a large hospital in Royal Oak, MI, and aim to evaluate its safety and efficiency.

METHODS: Anticipating a surge in patients requiring testing, Beaumont Health implemented curbside testing, operated by a multidisciplinary team of health care workers, including physicians, advanced practice providers, residents, nurses, technicians, and registration staff. We report on the following outcomes over a period of 26 days (March 12, 2020, to April 6, 2020): time to medical decision, time spent documenting electronic medical records, overall screening time, and emergency center return evaluations.

RESULTS: In total, 2782 patients received curbside services. A nasopharyngeal swab was performed on 1176 patients (41%), out of whom 348 (29.6%) tested positive. The median time for the entire process (from registration to discharge) was 28 minutes (IQR 17-44). The median time to final medical decision was 15 minutes (IQR 8-27). The median time from medical decision to discharge was 9 minutes (IQR 5-16). Only 257 patients (9.2%) returned to the emergency center for an evaluation within 7 or more days, of whom 64 were admitted to the hospital, 11 remained admitted, and 4 expired.

CONCLUSIONS: Our curbside testing model encourages the incorporation of this model at other high-volume facilities during an infectious disease pandemic.

Volume

6

Issue

3

First Page

20040

Last Page

20040

DOI

10.2196/20040

ISSN

2369-2960

PubMed ID

32619184

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