Background Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a global pandemic that has placed a significant burden on health care systems in the United States. Michigan has been one of the top states affected by COVID-19. Objective We describe the emergency center curbside testing procedure implemented at Beaumont Hospital, a large hospital in Royal Oak, MI, and aim to evaluate its safety and efficiency. Methods Anticipating a surge in patients requiring testing, Beaumont Health implemented curbside testing, operated by a multidisciplinary team of health care workers, including physicians, advanced practice providers, residents, nurses, technicians, and registration staff. We report on the following outcomes over a period of 26 days (March 12, 2020, to April 6, 2020): time to medical decision, time spent documenting electronic medical records, overall screening time, and emergency center return evaluations. Results In total, 2782 patients received curbside services. A nasopharyngeal swab was performed on 1176 patients (41%), out of whom 348 (29.6%) tested positive. The median time for the entire process (from registration to discharge) was 28 minutes (IQR 17-44). The median time to final medical decision was 15 minutes (IQR 8-27). The median time from medical decision to discharge was 9 minutes (IQR 5-16). Only 257 patients (9.2%) returned to the emergency center for an evaluation within 7 or more days, of whom 64 were admitted to the hospital, 11 remained admitted, and 4 expired. Conclusions Our curbside testing model encourages the incorporation of this model at other high-volume facilities during an infectious disease pandemic.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, public health, pandemic, drive-through testing, emergency center, curbside testing, 【초록키워드】 hospital, health care workers, Infectious disease, outcome, discharge, global pandemic, Nurses, Nasopharyngeal swab, Patient, Physicians, electronic medical records, disease, Health care system, Efficiency, median time, Final, positive, The United States, objective, Result, tested, affected, evaluate, remained, was performed, returned, expired, IQR, Oak, 【제목키워드】 Screening, Emergency, center,