Clinical impact of molecular point-of-care testing for suspected COVID-19 in hospital (COV-19POC)

[2greys]

The management of suspected COVID-19 respiratory disease, caused by infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is severely hampered by the long turnaround times associated with centralised laboratory PCR testing, which can take several days to generate results. In acute hospitals, these delays can lead to poor patient flow through clinical areas, with suspected patients grouped into assessment areas until their results are available. In addition, shortages of single-occupancy rooms mean that COVID-19-negative patients in these assessment areas might acquire infection from patients who do have the disease before results are available. Hospital-acquired infection is a hallmark metric for quality of care in hospitals and UK National Health Service (NHS) data suggest that large proportions of COVID-19 cases diagnosed in hospital during the first wave were acquired nosocomially.

Rapid, accurate diagnostic tests that can be done in admission areas are therefore urgently required.

thelancet.com/journals/lanr...

[Badbessie]

My friend is due a small operation. He as just had a Covid test he must now isolate totally until he goes in next week. Sadly as this paper suggests it causes unnecessary delays and a growing backlog. I think a rapid test requirement is stating the obvious.