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Implementation of a COVID-19 cohort area resulted in no surface or air contamination in surrounding areas in one academic emergency department()
INTRODUCTION: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and highly contagious nature of SARS-CoV-2, emergency departments (EDs) have been forced to implement new measures and protocols to minimize the spread of the disease within their departments. The primary objective of this study was to determine if...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Elsevier Inc.
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8084882/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33965895 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajem.2021.04.082 |
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author | Barksdale, Aaron Nathan Zeger, Wesley G. Santarpia, Joshua L. Herrera, Vicki L. Ackerman, Daniel N. Lowe, John J. Wadman, Michael C. |
author_facet | Barksdale, Aaron Nathan Zeger, Wesley G. Santarpia, Joshua L. Herrera, Vicki L. Ackerman, Daniel N. Lowe, John J. Wadman, Michael C. |
author_sort | Barksdale, Aaron Nathan |
collection | PubMed |
description | INTRODUCTION: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and highly contagious nature of SARS-CoV-2, emergency departments (EDs) have been forced to implement new measures and protocols to minimize the spread of the disease within their departments. The primary objective of this study was to determine if the implementation of a designated COVID-19 cohort area (hot zone) within a busy ED mitigated the dissemination of SARS-CoV-2 throughout the rest of the department. METHODS: In an ED of a tertiary academic medical center, with 64,000 annual visits, an eight room pod was designated for known COVID-19 or individuals with high suspicion for infection. There was a single entry and exit for donning and doffing personal protective equipment (PPE). Health care workers (HCW) changed gowns and gloves between patients, but maintained their N-95 mask and face shield, cleaning the shield with a germicidal wipe between patients. Staffing assignments designated nurses and technicians to remain in this area for 4 h, where physicians regularly moved between the hot zone and rest of the ED. Fifteen surface samples and four air samples were taken to evaluate SARS-CoV-2 contamination levels and the effectiveness of infection control practices. Samples were collected outside of patient rooms in 3 primary ED patient care areas, the reception area, the primary nurses station, inside the cohort area, and the PPE donning and doffing areas immediately adjacent. Samples were recovered and analyzed for the presence of the E gene of SARS-CoV-2 using RT-PCR. RESULTS: SARS-CoV-2 was not detected on any surface samples, including in and around the cohort area. All air samples outside the COVID-19 hot zone were negative for SARS-CoV-2, but air samples within the cohort area had a low level of viral contamination. CONCLUSION: A designated COVID-19 cohort area resulted in no air or surface contamination outside of the hot zone, and only minimal air, but no surface contamination, within the hot zone. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8084882 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Elsevier Inc. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-80848822021-05-03 Implementation of a COVID-19 cohort area resulted in no surface or air contamination in surrounding areas in one academic emergency department() Barksdale, Aaron Nathan Zeger, Wesley G. Santarpia, Joshua L. Herrera, Vicki L. Ackerman, Daniel N. Lowe, John J. Wadman, Michael C. Am J Emerg Med Article INTRODUCTION: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and highly contagious nature of SARS-CoV-2, emergency departments (EDs) have been forced to implement new measures and protocols to minimize the spread of the disease within their departments. The primary objective of this study was to determine if the implementation of a designated COVID-19 cohort area (hot zone) within a busy ED mitigated the dissemination of SARS-CoV-2 throughout the rest of the department. METHODS: In an ED of a tertiary academic medical center, with 64,000 annual visits, an eight room pod was designated for known COVID-19 or individuals with high suspicion for infection. There was a single entry and exit for donning and doffing personal protective equipment (PPE). Health care workers (HCW) changed gowns and gloves between patients, but maintained their N-95 mask and face shield, cleaning the shield with a germicidal wipe between patients. Staffing assignments designated nurses and technicians to remain in this area for 4 h, where physicians regularly moved between the hot zone and rest of the ED. Fifteen surface samples and four air samples were taken to evaluate SARS-CoV-2 contamination levels and the effectiveness of infection control practices. Samples were collected outside of patient rooms in 3 primary ED patient care areas, the reception area, the primary nurses station, inside the cohort area, and the PPE donning and doffing areas immediately adjacent. Samples were recovered and analyzed for the presence of the E gene of SARS-CoV-2 using RT-PCR. RESULTS: SARS-CoV-2 was not detected on any surface samples, including in and around the cohort area. All air samples outside the COVID-19 hot zone were negative for SARS-CoV-2, but air samples within the cohort area had a low level of viral contamination. CONCLUSION: A designated COVID-19 cohort area resulted in no air or surface contamination outside of the hot zone, and only minimal air, but no surface contamination, within the hot zone. Elsevier Inc. 2021-09 2021-04-30 /pmc/articles/PMC8084882/ /pubmed/33965895 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajem.2021.04.082 Text en © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active. |
spellingShingle | Article Barksdale, Aaron Nathan Zeger, Wesley G. Santarpia, Joshua L. Herrera, Vicki L. Ackerman, Daniel N. Lowe, John J. Wadman, Michael C. Implementation of a COVID-19 cohort area resulted in no surface or air contamination in surrounding areas in one academic emergency department() |
title | Implementation of a COVID-19 cohort area resulted in no surface or air contamination in surrounding areas in one academic emergency department() |
title_full | Implementation of a COVID-19 cohort area resulted in no surface or air contamination in surrounding areas in one academic emergency department() |
title_fullStr | Implementation of a COVID-19 cohort area resulted in no surface or air contamination in surrounding areas in one academic emergency department() |
title_full_unstemmed | Implementation of a COVID-19 cohort area resulted in no surface or air contamination in surrounding areas in one academic emergency department() |
title_short | Implementation of a COVID-19 cohort area resulted in no surface or air contamination in surrounding areas in one academic emergency department() |
title_sort | implementation of a covid-19 cohort area resulted in no surface or air contamination in surrounding areas in one academic emergency department() |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8084882/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33965895 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajem.2021.04.082 |
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