COVID-19 pre-procedural testing strategy and early outcomes at a large tertiary care children's hospital. Pediatr Surg Int 2021 Jul;37(7):871-880
Date
03/15/2021Pubmed ID
33715083Pubmed Central ID
PMC7955904DOI
10.1007/s00383-021-04878-2Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85102600575 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 6 CitationsAbstract
PURPOSE: With the emergence of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, institutions were tasked with developing individualized pre-procedural testing strategies that allowed for re-initiation of elective procedures within national and state guidelines. This report describes the experience of a single US children's hospital (Children's Wisconsin, CW) in developing a universal pre-procedural COVID-19 testing protocol and reports early outcomes.
METHODS: The CW pre-procedural COVID-19 response began with the creation of a multi-disciplinary taskforce that sought to develop a strategy for universal pre-procedural COVID-19 testing which (1) maximized patient safety, (2) prevented in-hospital viral transmission, (3) conserved resources, and (4) allowed for resumption of procedural care within institutional capacity.
RESULTS: Of 11,209 general anesthetics performed at CW from March 16, 2020 to October 31, 2020, 11,150 patients (99.5%) underwent pre-procedural COVID-19 testing. Overall, 1.4% of pre-procedural patients tested positive for COVID-19. By June 2020, CW was operating at near-normal procedural volume and there were no documented cases of in-hospital viral transmission. Only 0.5% of procedures were performed under augmented COVID-19 precautions (negative pressure environment and highest-level personal protective equipment).
CONCLUSION: CW successfully developed a multi-disciplinary pre-procedural COVID-19 testing protocol that enabled resumption of near-normal procedural volume within three months while limiting in-hospital viral transmission and resource use.
Author List
Bence CM, Jarzembowski JA, Belter L, Berens RJ, Henrickson KJ, Hoffman GM, Jackson F, Kehl KS, Oldham KT, Scott JP, Tassone JC, Woger N, Yale E, Gourlay DMAuthors
Richard J. Berens MD Professor in the Anesthesiology department at Medical College of WisconsinDavid M. Gourlay MD Chief, Professor in the Surgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Kelly J. Henrickson MD Professor in the Pediatrics department at Medical College of Wisconsin
George M. Hoffman MD Chief, Professor in the Anesthesiology department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Jason A. Jarzembowski MD, PhD Sr Associate Dean, CEO CSG, Professor in the Pathology department at Medical College of Wisconsin
John P. Scott MD Professor in the Anesthesiology department at Medical College of Wisconsin
J Channing Tassone MD Professor in the Orthopaedic Surgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin
MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
ChildElective Surgical Procedures
Female
Hospitals, Pediatric
Humans
Male
Pandemics
Tertiary Healthcare
Wisconsin
