Effective Use of an Advanced Isolation Unit During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Cohort Study
Abstract
Background: Advanced isolation and testing of patients with suspicious symptoms or community-acquired pneumonia of an unknown origin are of prime importance in the current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. We describe herein a strategy for preventing virus transmission within hospitals through screening and advanced isolation.Methods: We retrospectively analysed patients screened and admitted to the adult advanced isolation unit at a South Korean hospital, from February to April 2020. Those requiring hospitalization were admitted to the unit. Based on the hospital’s testing capacity for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, we divided patients into groups to identify the relationship between test-running frequency and efficacy of the advanced isolation unit based on the decrease in de-isolation time.Findings: Of the 10,364 screened patients, 5,969 were tested for the virus, and 10 were confirmed to have COVID-19. Of the 338 patients admitted to the unit, one patient was diagnosed with COVID-19. The median de-isolation time from the unit was 2·9 hours (interquartile range: 1·0–6·6), and patients stayed in the unit for a median of 16·6 hours (interquartile range: 9·0–24·1). The group that tested six times per day had the shortest admission to de-isolation time and stay time in the unit.Interpretation: Our process minimized exposure without delaying proper treatment and prevented virus transmission within the hospital. High testing frequencies maximized the…
Read the paper
Related studies
- Antioxidant efficacy and the upregulation of Nrf2-mediated HO-1 expression by (+)-lariciresinol, a lignan isolated from Rubia philippinensis, through the activation of p38
- Anti-influenza virus activity of green tea by-products in vitro and efficacy against influenza virus infection in chickens
- The intratumoral administration of ferucarbotran conjugated with doxorubicin improved therapeutic effect by magnetic hyperthermia combined with pharmacotherapy in a hepatocellular carcinoma model
- Enhanced anticancer efficacy of TRAIL-conjugated and odanacatib-loaded PLGA nanoparticles in TRAIL resistant cancer
- In vivo tracking of bioorthogonally labeled T-cells for predicting therapeutic efficacy of adoptive T-cell therapy
- Endogenous Akt Activity Promotes Virus Entry and Predicts Efficacy of Novel Chimeric Orthopoxvirus in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.