The Battle Against Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Emergency Management and Infection Control in a Radiology Department

Abstract

Objective: To describe the strategy and the emergency management and infection control procedure of our radiology department during the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods:We set up emergency management and sensing control teams. The team formulated various measures: reconfiguration of the radiology department, personal protection and training of staff, examination procedures for patients suspected of or confirmed with COVID-19 as well as patients without an exposure history or symptoms. Those with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection were scanned in the designated fever-CT unit. people suspected of or confirmed with COVID-19 underwent fever-CT examinations. Including initial examinations and reexaminations, the total number of fever-CT examinations numbered 3,340. As a result of our precautions, none of the staff of the radiology department were infected with COVID-19. Conclusion:Strategic planning and adequate protections can help protect patients and staff against a highly infectious disease while maintaining function at a high volume capacity.

Management of patients with COVID-19 in radiology departments, and indications regarding imaging studies – recommendations of the Polish Medical Society of Radiology

“…• The wearing of jewellery, watches, etc. is contraindicated [7]. • Clothing is changed before personnel leave work.…”

“…• Distances between people (preferably of ≥ 2 m) are maintained if at all possible [9]. • Patients in whom SARS-CoV2 infection is suspected wear a mask [7]. • During a COVID-19 epidemic, every patient with cough or dyspnoea wears a surgical mask while undergoing an imaging study.…”

“…In line with this view, the primary role of both X-ray and computed tomography (CT) imaging studies is to assist in establishing how to manage the patient, the assessment of complications, and differential diagnosis [5]. Other authors [6,7] point out that the sensitivity of PCR tests remains low, in contrast to chest CT, which may be helpful in rectifying false negatives obtained from RT-PCR during the disease's early stages of development.…”

Touch Me Not: Safe Distancing in Radiology During Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

“…Prior publications have elaborated on safe distancing of patients and accompanying persons in radiology departments through reconfiguring of radiology departments, screening questionnaires, triaging scan urgency in symptomatic patients, and reducing the number of accompanying persons 3,4 . One new area we are exploring to further facilitate physical distancing between patients is a "Precision Appointment" (PrApp) model (Table 1).…”

Why is chest CT important for early diagnosis of COVID-19? Prevalence matters

“…As such, CT scan may identify patients affected by COVID-19 in the critical stages of epidemic spreading, when it is crucial to reach prompt clinical decisions and where oral-nasopharyngeal swab specimens may not provide yet trustworthy and rapid information. CT scan can be performed and interpreted in a handful of minutes 40 . Moreover, the recent introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) approaches as diagnostic tools for semi-automated COVID-19 CT scan reporting may even shorten this time and improve performances 41 .…”