J Korean Med Sci.  2020 Jul;35(26):e246. 10.3346/jkms.2020.35.e246.

Screening Clinic for Coronavirus Disease 2019 to Prevent Intrahospital Spread in Daegu, Korea: a Single-Center Report

• Kwon YS
• Park SH
• Kim HJ
• Lee JY
• Hyun Mr
• Kim Ha
• Park JS

• KMID: 2503693
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2020.35.e246

Abstract

There is still a paucity of studies on real-world outcome of screening clinic for hospital protection from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). As the number of COVID-19 cases was growing rapidly in Daegu, Korea, we started operating an active screening clinic outside the hospital premises. Over two weeks, 2,087 patients were screened using real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, with 42 confirmed cases. Before the screening clinic period, an average of 36 beds (maximum 67 beds) per day were closed due to unrecognized COVID-19 patients entering the hospital. In contrast, after the screening clinic operated well, only one event of closing emergency room (25 beds) occurred due to a confirmed COVID-19 case of asymptomatic patient. We report the operational process of screening clinic for COVID-19 and its effectiveness in maintaining the function of tertiary hospitals.

Keyword

Coronavirus Disease 2019; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2; Screening Clinic

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Map of the active screening clinic outside the hospital premises for COVID-19.COVID-19 = coronavirus disease 2019.

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  Fig. 2 Numbers of daily COVID-19 confirmed patients in Daegu, closed bed and RT-PCR assay for SARS-CoV2 at screening clinic in KUDH between 2/18/2020 and 3/23/2020.COVID-19 = coronavirus disease 2019, KUDH = Keimyung University Dongsan Hospital, RT-PCR = real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, SARS-CoV-2 = severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.aAfter the screening clinic operated well, the number of bed closures was remarkably small.bThe screening clinic did not operate on the weekends; SARS-CoV-2 testing was not performed on these days.*Although, detailed data from the screening clinic were not collected during the first week (from February 24 to March 1, 2020), the overall positive rate was 2.1% (67/3,137) during this period and the entire study period (from February 24 to May 21, 2020).

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