Covenant Children's Hospital

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Amy Thompson, MD, CEO Covenant Children's Hospital- 806-438-0399

Swab and go CAREGIVER Announcement

Announcements:

All,

FDA now designates that the Abbott ID Now platform (our 15 minute rapid COVID test) should NOT be used for screening of asymptomatic patients. This has the potential effect of creating a PUI category consisting of those patients waiting for appropriate placement based on COVID status (see below). If we need confirmation of the presence of COVID-19 in symptomatic patients, the Abbott platform is acceptable when a rapid result is needed.

We have two other platforms available to us, which are run at CMC: Cepheid and Alinity.

Cepheid provides roughly 3 hour turnaround, and is available 24/7; however, scarcity of reagents will make use of this platform as a screening tool untenable, since this is also the ONLY platform CMC has to run flu tests.
Alinity can run 300 tests at a time, and is run in roughly 2 hour increments from 0600 to 1800 Monday – Friday, 1200 to 1600 Saturdays, and 1500 – 2000 Sundays. The timing of the batching process is not precise and depends in part upon demand, but gives us a sense of its expanded availability.

For pre-procedure screening of patients in Women’s and Pediatric service lines, COVID tests should be obtained within 3 days of the procedure. SAS is the best route for obtaining COVID screening tests; however, we will accept negative results from outside facilities for specimens obtained within the 3 day timeframe, and patients are expected to provide those results in writing. Unless the patient has had a positive COVID result in the last 90 days (see below), procedures will not be performed without documentation of a negative COVID screening result.

Patients should also provide documentation of previous positive results. Patients who have had positive test results should NOT be retested, unless those results are >90 days old, or the patient has developed new symptoms consistent with COVID-19. Newest recommendations state that procedures should be delayed for 20 days after a positive COVID test.

All patients scheduled for non-emergent procedures, including those coming from outside of Lubbock, should be tested 2-3 days before the day of their procedure in order to avoid possible cancellation of their procedure.

Emergent patients who are awaiting results post-procedure (should be few, since we are doing everything possible to screen prior to the procedure) may go to the Isolation Unit as a PUI if appropriate. Postpartum moms may go to Mom/Baby if they cannot wait for screening results in L&D, and if they are accompanied by an isolation cart.

We are grateful for your patience as we adjust to a constantly shifting environment. As always, we welcome your suggestions, observations and feedback. For those of you who have experienced inconvenience as we implemented these new guidelines, we offer our sincere apologies, and will continue to strive for excellence in supporting your efforts on behalf of the patients and families of Covenant Children’s Hospital.