Yuval Levy1,2, Yael Frenkel Nir1,3,2, Avinoah Ironi4,2, Hindy Englard4,2, Gili Regev-Yochay5,2, Galia Rahav6,2, Arnon Afek1,2, Ehud Grossman7,2. 1. Department of Medical Management, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel. 2. Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. 3. Medical Corps, Israel Defense Forces, Ramat Gan, Israel. 4. Department of Emergency Medicine, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel. 5. Department of Infection Prevention and Control, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel. 6. Unit of Infectious Disease and Laboratories, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel. 7. Department of Internal Medicine D, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, is a tertiary hospital located in the center of Israel. It is the largest hospital in Israel and was the first to face coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) patients in the country at the beginning of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. OBJECTIVES: To describe our experience with the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on our triage method in the emergency department (ED). Our goal was to keep the main hospitalization buildings clean of infection by separating COVID-19 positive patients from COVID-19 negative patients. METHODS: We divided our ED into two separate sections: a regular non-COVID-19 ED and an advanced biological ED. We created clear protocols of triage for suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients. We reviewed the data of patients admitted to our ED during the month of March and analyzed the results of our triage method in separating COVID-19 positive from negative patients. RESULTS: During the month of March 2020, 7957 patients were referred to our ED. Among them 2004 were referred to the biological ED and 5953 were referred to the regular ED. Of the 2004 patients referred to the biological ED, 1641 (81.8%) were sampled for SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction of whom 143 (8.7%) were positive. Only two COVID-19 positive patients unintentionally entered the main clean hospital, making our triage almost full proof. CONCLUSIONS: Our triage method was successful in separating COVID-19 positive from negative patients and maintained the regular hospital clean of COVID-19 allowing treatment continuation of regular non-COVID-19 patients.
BACKGROUND: Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, is a tertiary hospital located in the center of Israel. It is the largest hospital in Israel and was the first to face coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) patients in the country at the beginning of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. OBJECTIVES: To describe our experience with the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on our triage method in the emergency department (ED). Our goal was to keep the main hospitalization buildings clean of infection by separating COVID-19 positive patients from COVID-19 negative patients. METHODS: We divided our ED into two separate sections: a regular non-COVID-19 ED and an advanced biological ED. We created clear protocols of triage for suspected and confirmed COVID-19patients. We reviewed the data of patients admitted to our ED during the month of March and analyzed the results of our triage method in separating COVID-19 positive from negative patients. RESULTS: During the month of March 2020, 7957 patients were referred to our ED. Among them 2004 were referred to the biological ED and 5953 were referred to the regular ED. Of the 2004 patients referred to the biological ED, 1641 (81.8%) were sampled for SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction of whom 143 (8.7%) were positive. Only two COVID-19 positive patients unintentionally entered the main clean hospital, making our triage almost full proof. CONCLUSIONS: Our triage method was successful in separating COVID-19 positive from negative patients and maintained the regular hospital clean of COVID-19 allowing treatment continuation of regular non-COVID-19patients.
Authors: Monica I Lupei; Danni Li; Nicholas E Ingraham; Karyn D Baum; Bradley Benson; Michael Puskarich; David Milbrandt; Genevieve B Melton; Daren Scheppmann; Michael G Usher; Christopher J Tignanelli Journal: PLoS One Date: 2022-01-05 Impact factor: 3.752
Authors: Joshua B Moskovitz; Timothy Tan; Monisha Dilip; Kaushal Khambhati; Colleen Smith; Joshua Sapadin; Morgan Dauer; Robert Chin; Regina Hammock; Richard Leno; Stuart Kessler; Eric Wei; David Silvestri; Shaw Natsui Journal: J Am Coll Emerg Physicians Open Date: 2021-11-22