Real-world deployment of lateral flow SARS-CoV-2 antigen detection in the emergency department to provide rapid, accurate and safe diagnosis of COVID-19.
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ABSTRACT: Background
Point-of-care (POC) SARS-CoV-2 lateral-flow antigen detection (LFD) testing in the emergency department (ED) could inform rapid infection control decisions but requirements for safe deployment have not been fully defined.Methods
Review of LFD test results, laboratory and POC-RT-PCR results and ED-performance metrics during a two-week high SARS-CoV-2 prevalence period followed by several months of falling prevalence.Aim
Determine whether LFD testing can be safely deployed in ED to provide an effective universal SARS-CoV-2 testing capability.Findings
93% (345/371) of COVID-19 patients left ED with a virological diagnosis during the 2-week universal LFD evaluation period compared to 77% with targeted POC-RT-PCR deployment alone, on background of approximately one-third having an NHS Track and Trace RT-PCR test-result at presentation. LFD sensitivity and specificity was 70.7% and 99.1% respectively providing a PPV of 97.7% and NPV of 86.4% with disease prevalence of 34.7%. ED discharge-delays (breaches) attributable to COVID-19 fell to 33/3532 (0.94%) compared with the preceding POC-RT-PCR period (107/4114 (2.6%); p=<0.0001). Importantly, LFD testing identified 1 or 2 clinically-unsuspected COVID-19 patients/day. Three clinically-confirmed LFD false positive patients were appropriately triaged based on LFD action-card flowchart, and only 5 of 95 false-negative LFD results were inappropriately admitted to non-COVID-19 areas where no onward-transmission was identified. LFD testing was restricted to asymptomatic patients when disease prevalence fell below 5% and detected 1-3 cases/week.Conclusion
Universal SARS-CoV-2 LFD testing can be safely and effectively deployed in ED alongside POC-RT-PCR testing during periods of high and low disease prevalence.
SUBMITTER: Merrick B
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8598289 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:ObjectivesEmergency department (ED) crowding is an increasing problem associated with adverse patient outcomes. ED expansion is one method advocated to reduce ED crowding. The objective of this analysis was to determine the effect of ED expansion on measures of ED crowding.MethodsThis was a retrospective study using administrative data from two 11-month periods before and after the expansion of an ED from 33 to 53 adult beds in an academic medical center. ED volume, staffing, and hospital admission and occupancy data were obtained either from the electronic health record (EHR) or from administrative records. The primary outcome was the rate of patients who left without being treated (LWBT), and the secondary outcome was total ED boarding time for admitted patients. A multivariable robust linear regression model was used to determine whether ED expansion was associated with the outcome measures.ResultsThe mean (±SD) daily adult volume was 128 (±14) patients before expansion and 145 (±17) patients after. The percentage of patients who LWBT was unchanged: 9.0% before expansion versus 8.3% after expansion (difference = 0.6%, 95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.16% to 1.4%). Total ED boarding time increased from 160 to 180 hours/day (difference = 20 hours, 95% CI = 8 to 32 hours). After daily ED volume, low-acuity area volume, daily wait time, daily boarding hours, and nurse staffing were adjusted for, the percentage of patients who LWBT was not independently associated with ED expansion (p = 0.053). After ED admissions, ED intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, elective surgical admissions, hospital occupancy rate, ICU occupancy rate, and number of operational ICU beds were adjusted for, the increase in ED boarding hours was independently associated with the ED expansion (p = 0.005).ConclusionsAn increase in ED bed capacity was associated with no significant change in the percentage of patients who LWBT, but had an unintended consequence of an increase in ED boarding hours. ED expansion alone does not appear to be an adequate solution to ED crowding.
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Project description:ImportanceSuicide is a leading cause of deaths in the United States. Although the emergency department (ED) is an opportune setting for initiating suicide prevention efforts, ED-initiated suicide prevention interventions remain underdeveloped.ObjectiveTo determine whether an ED-initiated intervention reduces subsequent suicidal behavior.Design, setting, and participantsThis multicenter study of 8 EDs in the United States enrolled adults with a recent suicide attempt or ideation and was composed of 3 sequential phases: (1) a treatment as usual (TAU) phase from August 2010 to December 2011, (2) a universal screening (screening) phase from September 2011 to December 2012, and (3) a universal screening plus intervention (intervention) phase from July 2012 to November 2013.InterventionsScreening consisted of universal suicide risk screening. The intervention phase consisted of universal screening plus an intervention, which included secondary suicide risk screening by the ED physician, discharge resources, and post-ED telephone calls focused on reducing suicide risk.Main outcomes and measuresThe primary outcome was suicide attempts (nonfatal and fatal) over the 52-week follow-up period. The proportion and total number of attempts were analyzed.ResultsA total of 1376 participants were recruited, including 769 females (55.9%) with a median (interquartile range) age of 37 (26-47) years. A total of 288 participants (20.9%) made at least 1 suicide attempt, and there were 548 total suicide attempts among participants. There were no significant differences in risk reduction between the TAU and screening phases (23% vs 22%, respectively). However, compared with the TAU phase, patients in the intervention phase showed a 5% absolute reduction in suicide attempt risk (23% vs 18%), with a relative risk reduction of 20%. Participants in the intervention phase had 30% fewer total suicide attempts than participants in the TAU phase. Negative binomial regression analysis indicated that the participants in the intervention phase had significantly fewer total suicide attempts than participants in the TAU phase (incidence rate ratio, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.52-1.00; P = .05) but no differences between the TAU and screening phases (incidence rate ratio, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.71-1.41; P = .99).Conclusions and relevanceAmong at-risk patients in the ED, a combination of brief interventions administered both during and after the ED visit decreased post-ED suicidal behavior.
| S-EPMC5539839 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundRapid identification of fentanyl at the point-of-care is critical. Urine fentanyl concentrations in overdose cases start at single-digit nanograms per milliliter. No fentanyl point-of-care assay with a cutoff at single-digit nanograms per milliliter is available.MethodsA competitive lateral flow assay (LFA) was developed using gold nanoparticles and optimized for rapid screening of fentanyl in 5?minutes. Urine samples from 2 cohorts of emergency department (ED) patients were tested using the LFA and LC-MS/MS. The 2 cohorts consisted of 218 consecutive ED patients with urine drug-of-abuse screen orders and 7 ED patients with clinically suspected fentanyl overdose, respectively.ResultsThe LFA detected fentanyl (?1?ng/mL) and the major metabolite norfentanyl (?10?ng/mL) with high precision. There was no cross-reactivity with amphetamine, cocaine, morphine, tetrahydrocannabinol, methadone, buprenorphine, naloxone, and acetaminophen at 1000?ng/mL and 0.03%, 0.4%, and 0.05% cross-reactivity with carfentanil, risperidone, and 9-hydroxyrisperidone, respectively. In 218 consecutive ED patients, the prevalence of cases with fentanyl ?1?ng/mL or norfentanyl ?10?ng/mL was 5.5%. The clinical sensitivity and specificity of the LFA were 100% (95% CI, 75.8-100%) and 99.5% (95% CI, 97.3-99.9%), respectively. The positive and negative predictive values were 92.3% (95% CI, 66.7-98.6%) and 100% (95% CI, 98.2-100%), respectively. The concordance between the LFA and LC-MS/MS was 100% in the 7 suspected fentanyl overdose cases (5 positive, 2 negative).ConclusionsThe LFA can detect fentanyl and norfentanyl with high clinical sensitivity and specificity in the ED population with rapid fentanyl screening needs.
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Project description:The Toronto Western Hospital is an academic hospital in Toronto, Canada, with an annual Emergency Department (ED) volume of 64,000 patients. Despite increases in patient volumes of almost six percent per annum over the last decade, there have been no commensurate increases in resources, infrastructure, and staffing. This has led to substantial increase in patient wait times, most specifically for those patients with lower acuity presentations. Despite requiring only minimal care, these patients contribute disproportionately to ED congestion, which can adversely impact resource utilization and quality of care for all patients. We undertook a retrospective evaluation of a quality improvement initiative aimed at improving wait times experienced by patients with lower acuity presentations. A rapid improvement event was organized by frontline workers to rapidly overhaul processes of care, leading to the creation of the Rapid Medical Evaluation (RME) unit - a new pathway of care for patients with lower acuity presentations. The RME unit was designed by re-purposing existing resources and re-assigning one physician and one nurse towards the specific care of these patients. We evaluated the performance of the RME unit through measurement of physician initial assessment (PIA) times and total length of stay (LOS) times for multiple groups of patients assigned to various ED care pathways, during three periods lasting three months each. Weekly measurements of mean and 90th percentile of PIA and LOS times showed special cause variation in all targeted patient groups. Of note, the patients seen in the RME unit saw their median PIA and LOS times decrease from 98min to 70min and from 165min to 130min, respectively, from baseline. Despite ever-growing numbers of patient visits, wait times for all patients with lower acuity presentations remained low, and wait times of patients with higher acuity presentations assigned to other ED care pathways were not adversely affected. By specifically re-purposing a fraction of existing staff, resources, and infrastructure for patients with lower acuity presentations, we were able to streamline their care and decrease wait times in the ED. These results were achieved through the incremental improvements afforded by rapidly cycling through PDSA cycles, with strong frontline staff involvement and continuously eliciting feedback for improvement. We believe the model to be replicable in other academic medical centres.
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Project description:Around 42,000 children suffer from severe sepsis each year in the US alone, resulting in significant morbidity, mortality and billion dollar expenditures in the US healthcare system. Sepsis recognition is a clinical challenge in children. Biomarkers are needed to tailor appropriate antimicrobial therapies and improve risk stratification. The goal of this study was to determine if gene expression profiles from peripheral blood were associated with pathogen type and sepsis severity in children treated for suspected sepsis.
2020-01-01 | GSE119217 | GEO
Project description:ImportanceTreatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) with buprenorphine decreases opioid use and prevents morbidity and mortality. Emergency departments (EDs) are an important setting for buprenorphine initiation for patients with untreated OUD; however, readiness varies among ED clinicians.ObjectiveTo characterize barriers and facilitators of readiness to initiate buprenorphine for the treatment of OUD in the ED and identify opportunities to promote readiness across multiple clinician types.Design, setting, and participantsUsing data collected from April 1, 2018, to January 11, 2019, this mixed-methods formative evaluation grounded in the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services framework included 4 geographically diverse academic EDs. Attending physicians (n = 113), residents (n = 107), and advanced practice clinicians (APCs) (n = 48) completed surveys electronically distributed to all ED clinicians (n = 396). A subset of participants (n = 74) also participated in 1 of 11 focus group discussions. Data were analyzed from June 1, 2018, to February 22, 2020.Main outcomes and measuresClinician readiness to initiate buprenorphine and provide referral for ongoing treatment for patients with OUD treated in the ED was assessed using a visual analog scale. Responders (268 of 396 [67.7%]) were dichotomized as less ready (scores 0-6) or most ready (scores 7-10). An ED-adapted Organizational Readiness to Change Assessment (ORCA) and 11 focus groups were used to assess ratings and perspectives on evidence and context-related factors to promote ED-initiated buprenorphine with referral for ongoing treatment, respectively.ResultsAmong the 268 survey respondents (153 of 260 were men [58.8%], with a mean [SD] of 7.1 [9.8] years since completing formal training), 56 (20.9%) indicated readiness to initiate buprenorphine for ED patients with OUD. Nine of 258 (3.5%) reported Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000 training completion. Compared with those who were less ready, clinicians who were most ready to initiate buprenorphine had higher mean scores across all ORCA Evidence subscales (3.50 [95% CI, 3.35-3.65] to 4.33 [95% CI, 4.13-4.53] vs 3.11 [95% CI, 3.03-3.20] to 3.60 [95% CI, 3.49-3.70]; P < .001) and on the Slack Resources of the ORCA Context subscales (3.32 [95% CI, 3.08-3.55] vs 3.0 [95% CI, 2.87-3.12]; P = .02). Barriers to ED-initiated buprenorphine included lack of training and experience in treating OUD with buprenorphine, concerns about ability to link to ongoing care, and competing needs and priorities for ED time and resources. Facilitators to ED-initiated buprenorphine included receiving education and training, development of local departmental protocols, and receiving feedback on patient experiences and gaps in quality of care.Conclusions and relevanceOnly a few ED clinicians had a high level of readiness to initiate buprenorphine; however, many expressed a willingness to learn with sufficient supports. Efforts to promote adoption of ED-initiated buprenorphine will require clinician and system-level changes.
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Project description:IntroductionCanadian emergency departments (ED) are struggling to provide timely emergency care. Very few studies have assessed attempts to improve ED patient flow in the rural context. We assessed the impact of SurgeCon, an ED patient-management protocol, on total patient visits, patients who left without being seen (LWBS), length of stay for departed patients (LOSDep), and physician initial assessment time (PIA) in a rural community hospital ED.MethodsWe implemented a set of commonly used methods for increasing ED efficiency with an innovative approach over 45 months. Our intervention involved seven parts comprised of an external review, Lean training, fast track implementation, patient-centeredness approach, door-to-doctor approach, performance reporting, and an action-based surge capacity protocol. We measured key performance indicators including total patient visits (count), PIA (minutes), LWBS (percentage), and LOSDep (minutes) before and after the SurgeCon intervention. We also performed an interrupted time series (ITS) analysis.ResultsDuring the study period, 80,709 people visited the ED. PIA decreased from 104.3 (±9.9) minutes to 42.2 (±8.1) minutes, LOSDep decreased from 199.4 (±16.8) minutes to 134.4(±14.5) minutes, and LWBS decreased from 12.1% (±2.2) to 4.6% (±1.7) despite a 25.7% increase in patient volume between pre-intervention and post-intervention stages. The ITS analysis revealed a significant level change in PIA - 19.8 minutes (p<0.01), and LWBS - 3.8% (0.02), respectively. The change over time decreased by 2.7 minutes/month (p< 0.001), 3.0 minutes/month (p<0.001) and 0.4%/month (p<0.001) for PIA, LOSDep, and LWBS, after the intervention.ConclusionSurgeCon improved the key wait-time metrics in a rural ED in a country where average wait times continue to rise. The SurgeCon platform has the potential to improve ED efficiency in community hospitals with limited resources.
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Project description:ObjectivesEmergency departments (EDs) are complex adaptive systems and improving patient flow requires understanding how ED processes work. This study aimed to explore the patient flow process in an ED in Trinidad and Tobago, identifying organisational factors influencing patient flow.MethodsMultiple qualitative methods, including non-participant observations, observational process mapping and informal conversational interviews were used to explore patient flow. The process maps were generated from the observational process mapping. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.SettingThe study was conducted at a major tertiary level ED in Trinidad and Tobago.ParticipantsPatient and staff journeys in the ED were directly observed.ResultsSix broad categories were identified: (1) ED organisational work processes, (2) ED design and layout, (3) material resources, (4) nursing staff levels, roles, skill mix and use, (5) non-clinical ED staff and (6) external clinical and non-clinical departments. Within each category there were individual factors that appeared to either facilitate or hinder patient flow. Organisational processes such as streaming, front loading of investigations and the transfer process were pre-existing strategies in the ED while staff actions to compensate for limitations with flow were more intuitive. A conceptual framework of factors influencing ED patient flow is also presented.ConclusionThe knowledge gained may be used to strengthen the emergency care system in the local context. However, the study findings should be validated in other settings.
| S-EPMC7735135 | biostudies-literature
Project description:PurposeDespite the importance of patient flow to emergency department (ED) management, there is a need to strengthen and expand training in flow strategies for practicing ED staff. To date, there has been limited academic inquiry into the skills and training that ED staff require to improve patient flow. As part of a quality improvement initiative, our team aimed to identify the topics and training methods that should be included in flow training for ED staff.MethodsWe conducted an integrative review and modified Delphi. For the integrative review, we sought to identify appropriate skills, training strategies, and training modalities to include in a curriculum for ED staff. The findings from the review were compiled and distributed to Canadian experts in ED efficiency through a modified Delphi, including physicians, nurses, and nurse practitioners.ResultsOur literature search retrieved 8359 articles, of which 46 were included in the review. We identified 19 skills, 9 training strategies, and 12 training modalities used to improve ED efficiency in the literature. For the modified Delphi, we received responses from 39 participants in round one and 28 in round two, with response rates of 57% and 41%, respectively. The topics chosen by the most respondents were: "flow decisions," "teamwork," "backlog and surge management," "leadership," and "situational awareness."ConclusionOur findings suggest that flow training should teach ED staff how to make decisions that improve flow, work more effectively as a team, manage patient backlog and surge, improve leadership skills, and develop situational awareness. These findings add to a gap in the academic literature regarding the training ED staff require to improve patient flow.
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Project description:IntroductionPediatric emergency department (PED) visits are opportune times in which to provide smoking cessation interventions for parents who smoke. This study reports on the costs of providing parental smokers who bring their children to the emergency setting, with a screening, brief intervention, and assisted referral to treatment (SBIRT) intervention, which includes counseling about tobacco cessation and nicotine replacement therapy.MethodsCost data were collected during a randomized controlled trial with 750 parental smokers whose child was presented to a PED or pediatric Urgent Care unit with a potential tobacco smoke exposure-related illness. Interventionist training, screening, and SBIRT costs are reported from the organizational perspective (i.e. that of the providing hospital). A spreadsheet tool was created to allow for organizations to estimate their own costs based on their settings, for each aspect of the intervention.ResultsThe mean costs per parent included interventionist training, screening and enrollment, SBIRT delivery, distribution of take-home materials and nicotine replacement therapy, booster text messages, and follow-up phone contact. The total cost per parent was approximately $97. Varying the underlying cost assumptions led to total costs ranging from $85 to $124 per treated parent.ConclusionsThe emergency setting is an important locus of tobacco control that could have a large public health benefit to parents and children. The costs reported in this report and the accompanying spreadsheet tool will permit emergency settings to estimate the costs and assist with planning, staffing and resource allocation necessary to implement an SBIRT smoking cessation intervention in research-based and clinically-based cessation interventions into adult or pediatric emergency visits.
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