COVID-19 Drive-Through Point of Screening and Testing (POST) System: A Safe, Efficient, and Adaptable Model for Nasopharyngeal Swab Collection

The authors aim to demonstrate that the current drive-through testing model at a health district was improved in certain parameters compared with a previous testing protocol, and to provide the methodology of the current model for other coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing sites to potentially emu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness 2022-02, Vol.16 (1), p.194-200
Main Authors: Evans, Lauran K., Shinagawa, Austin, Sutton, Sarah, Calvo, Lisa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 - diagnosis
COVID-19 - epidemiology
COVID-19 diagnostic tests
COVID-19 Testing
Humans
Nasopharynx
Original Research
Personal Protective Equipment
Protective equipment
SARS-CoV-2
Tuberculosis
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Summary:The authors aim to demonstrate that the current drive-through testing model at a health district was improved in certain parameters compared with a previous testing protocol, and to provide the methodology of the current model for other coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing sites to potentially emulate. Initially, a small drive-through site was constructed at a converted tuberculosis clinic, but due to an increase in testing needs, an expanded point of screening and testing (POST) system was developed in an event center parking lot to administer tests to a higher volume of patients. An average of 51.1 patients was tested each day (2.0 tests per personnel in personal protective equipment [PPE] per hour) at the initial tuberculosis clinic drive-through site, which increased to 217.8 patients tested each day (5.9 tests per personnel in PPE per hour) with the new drive-through POST system (P < 0.001). Mean testing time was 3.4 minutes and the total time on-site averaged 14.4 minutes. This POST drive-through system serves as an efficient, safe, and adaptable model for high volume COVID-19 nasopharyngeal swabbing that the authors recommend other COVID-19 testing sites nationwide consider adopting for their own use.
ISSN:1935-7893
1938-744X
DOI:10.1017/dmp.2020.313