Tackling Infection Control in CT Exams Areas During a Pandemic
A team of radiologists from Shanghai discuss modifications to the CT examination process during COVID-19. Their work was published in an open-access article published ahead-of-print by the American Journal of Roentgenology.
May 19, 2020
A team of radiologists from China discussed making changes to the CT examination process during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The group’s work was published in an open-access article published ahead-of-print by the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR).
Shanghai Jiao Tong University Medical School Affiliated Ruijin Hospital researchers noted, to undergo CT, patients must exit the fever clinic and proceed to an examination room elsewhere at the institution. The team said that moreover, CT examination rooms are not designed according to the rule of three zones and two aisles - clean zone, semicontaminated zone, contaminated zone; patient aisle, and health care worker aisle.
"We were able to urgently install a CT scanner in the fever clinic at the beginning of the outbreak, which allowed rapid screening and early diagnosis," the researchers wrote. “A safe infection control strategy for the examination of patients with suspected SARS-CoV-2 was also implemented, including reconstructing the area and planning the path a patient would take. Additionally, Qu, Yang, and team rerouted the walking pathway to be one-way, limiting ingress and egress while separating contaminated zones from clean zones.”
COVID-19 is causing society to rethink the way medicine is practiced. Already there are shifts to move more toward telemedicine applications. A recent report from Canaccord Genuity analyst Jason Mills shows that telemedicine is “here and now” and will remain dominant as we emerge from the pandemic.
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