PLANNING

Pre-plan for how to best transport a patient from the ED to the inpatient unit. Use security to facilitate clearing the route, hold the elevator, and ensure that the elevator is cleaned after patient transport.

Develop a department plan designating which areas of the ED will be dedicated to droplet precautions and which areas are negative pressure rooms, appropriate to airborne precautions.

  • For areas without an “ante-chamber,” consider creating a taped “warm zone” outside of the room for proper doffing.
  • Ensure donning/doffing stations are set up with all needed supplies.
  • Consider taking a photo of the station to post in order to ensure proper set-up.
    • How will you secure these supplies (especially the hand-gel and wipes)?
  • Consider cohorting patients with mild illness who are “patients under investigation” in internal waiting rooms away from well patients, or those who could be immunocompromised.
  • Use phones in the patient rooms to interview non-critically ill patients in order to reduce trips in and out of the room, and to coordinate with nursing or respiratory therapy when they are at the bedside.

MOVEMENTS

Consider how patients will be transported from the waiting room through the ED to the isolation or precautions room:

  • Which route will they take to minimize exposure from the ED to the floor/unit dedicated within your hospital?
  • Which route will your used supplies take to be cleaned?
  • How will your nasal swabs be transported to the lab (eg. We are not using our tube system)?

Diagnostics:

  • Develop plans for terminal clean of CT scan rooms and other bedside diagnostic equipment (portable radiology, ultrasound, etc).
  • Will you have a dedicated ultrasound?
    • We have developed a process to perform portable radiographs through the door window for patients in isolation, reducing risk to staff and need for cleaning of the portable units.
    • Radiographs have been found to be of acceptable quality for reading using this technique.

RESOURCES

UW Medicine COVID-19 Resource Site

See UW Medicine COVID-19 Resource Site for more screening and testing algorithms, policy statements, and additional links.

UW Medicine COVID-19 Resource Site

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