(Snippets from the frontline)
COVID-19: Screening hospital personnel rapidly
Forty years ago while working in a VA Emergency Room, I examined a veteran who I thought could be anemic…low red cells. Because of limited staff, I drew a blood sample, took it to the lab, and analyzed it myself. Low. He was admitted to the hospital with my workup taking 10 minutes.
Inpatient testing for the coronavirus can take a minimum of 1-2 hours, and outpatient five days. In the pipeline is a rapid test that might take minutes.
Once this quick analysis is implemented, some of the first people tested should be healthcare workers in hospital settings.
Hospitals help those afflicted with COVID-19, but there might be unaffected patients who get exposed to the illness by carriers in these facilities. So when technology makes it possible, all potential hospital contact personnel should be tested daily prior to starting work.
We must assure healthcare professionals are protected from COVID-19, but also hospital personnel don’t become a source for spreading infection.
With advances in science, eventually all of us will be analyzed at home…maybe in 10 minutes.
Gene Uzawa Dorio, M.D.
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