Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Children's Mercy Kansas City, Kansas City, Missouri.
Department of Pediatrics, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, Missouri.
Pediatrics. 2023 Jul 1;152(Suppl 1). doi: 10.1542/peds.2022-060352C.
In April 2021, the US government made substantial investments in students' safe return to school by providing resources for school-based coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mitigation strategies, including COVID-19 diagnostic testing. However, testing uptake and access among vulnerable children and children with medical complexities remained unclear.
The Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Underserved Populations program was established by the National Institutes of Health to implement and evaluate COVID-19 testing programs in underserved populations. Researchers partnered with schools to implement COVID-19 testing programs. The authors of this study evaluated COVID-19 testing program implementation and enrollment and sought to determine key implementation strategies. A modified Nominal Group Technique was used to survey program leads to identify and rank testing strategies to provide a consensus of high-priority strategies for infectious disease testing in schools for vulnerable children and children with medical complexities.
Among the 11 programs responding to the survey, 4 (36%) included prekindergarten and early care education, 8 (73%) worked with socioeconomically disadvantaged populations, and 4 focused on children with developmental disabilities. A total of 81 916 COVID-19 tests were performed. "Adapting testing strategies to meet the needs, preferences, and changing guidelines," "holding regular meetings with school leadership and staff," and "assessing and responding to community needs" were identified as key implementation strategies by program leads.
School-academic partnerships helped provide COVID-19 testing in vulnerable children and children with medical complexities using approaches that met the needs of these populations. Additional work is needed to develop best practices for in-school infectious disease testing in all children.
2021 年 4 月，美国政府通过为学校制定 2019 冠状病毒病（COVID-19）缓解策略提供资源，包括 COVID-19 诊断检测，大力投资于学生安全返校。然而，脆弱儿童和患有复杂疾病的儿童的检测接受率和检测机会仍不清楚。
美国国立卫生研究院（National Institutes of Health）设立了快速加速诊断服务不足人群项目（Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Underserved Populations program），以在服务不足人群中实施和评估 COVID-19 检测计划。研究人员与学校合作实施 COVID-19 检测计划。本研究的作者评估了 COVID-19 检测计划的实施和参与情况，并试图确定关键的实施策略。采用改良名义群体技术对项目负责人进行调查，以确定并对检测策略进行排名，为脆弱儿童和患有复杂疾病的儿童在学校进行传染病检测提供高优先级策略的共识。
在回应调查的 11 个项目中，有 4 个（36%）包括学前和早期护理教育，8 个（73%）与社会经济弱势群体合作，4 个专注于发育障碍儿童。共进行了 81916 次 COVID-19 检测。项目负责人确定了以下关键实施策略：“调整检测策略以满足需求、偏好和不断变化的指导方针”“与学校领导和工作人员定期开会”以及“评估和应对社区需求”。
学校-学术合作伙伴关系有助于为脆弱儿童和患有复杂疾病的儿童提供 COVID-19 检测，所采用的方法符合这些人群的需求。需要进一步努力制定所有儿童在校内传染病检测的最佳实践。
