Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute, St. David's Medical Center, 3000 N. I-35, Suite 720, Austin, TX, 78705, USA.
Kansas City Heart Rhythm Institute, Overland Park, KS, USA.
J Interv Card Electrophysiol. 2021 Oct;62(1):171-176. doi: 10.1007/s10840-020-00886-9. Epub 2020 Oct 1.
As the coronavirus cases continue to surge, the urgent need for universal testing to identify positive cases for effective containment of this highly contagious pandemic has become the center of attention worldwide. However, in spite of extensive discussions, very few places have even attempted to implement it. We evaluated the efficacy of widespread testing in creating a safe workplace in our electrophysiology (EP) community. Furthermore, we assessed the new infection rate in patients undergoing EP procedure, to see if identification and exclusion of positive cases facilitated establishment of a risk-free operating environment.
Viral-RNA and serology tests were conducted in 1670 asymptomatic subjects including patients and their caregivers and staff in our EP units along with the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) staff.
Of 1670, 758 (45.4%) were patients and the remaining 912 were caregivers, EMS staff, and staff from EP clinic and lab. Viral-RNA test revealed 64 (3.8%) positives in the population. A significant increase in positivity rate was observed from April to June 2020 (p = 0.02). Procedures of positive cases (n = 31) were postponed until they tested negative at retesting. Staff testing positive (n = 33) were retested before going back to work after 2 weeks. Because of suspected exposure, 67 staff were retested and source was traced. No new infections were reported in patients during or within 2 weeks after the hospital-stay.
Universal testing to identify positive cases was helpful in creating and maintaining a safe working environment without exposing patients and staff to new infections in the EP units.
Trial Registration Number: clinicaltrials.gov : NCT04352764.
随着冠状病毒病例持续激增，全球范围内迫切需要进行普遍检测以发现阳性病例，从而有效控制这种高度传染性的大流行，这已成为关注的焦点。然而，尽管进行了广泛的讨论，但很少有地方甚至试图实施这种检测。我们评估了广泛检测在我们电生理（EP）团队中创建安全工作环境的效果。此外，我们评估了接受 EP 程序的患者中新感染的发生率，以了解是否通过识别和排除阳性病例来促进建立无风险的操作环境。
对包括 EP 病房患者及其护理人员和工作人员以及紧急医疗服务（EMS）人员在内的 1670 名无症状者进行了病毒 RNA 和血清学检测。
在 1670 名患者中，有 758 名（45.4%）是患者，其余 912 名是护理人员、EMS 工作人员以及 EP 诊所和实验室的工作人员。病毒 RNA 检测显示人群中有 64 例（3.8%）阳性。2020 年 4 月至 6 月，阳性率显著增加（p = 0.02）。对 31 例阳性病例的手术进行了推迟，直到他们在重新检测时转为阴性。检测结果为阳性的 33 名工作人员在重新检测呈阴性后，经过 2 周的时间后返回工作岗位。由于疑似接触，对 67 名工作人员进行了重新检测并追踪了源头。在 EP 病房中，患者在住院期间或住院后 2 周内未报告新的感染。
普遍检测以识别阳性病例有助于创建和维持安全的工作环境，而不会使患者和工作人员在 EP 病房中受到新的感染。
注册号：clinicaltrials.gov：NCT04352764。
