Keep yourself safe!! Here is Personal Protective Equipment information:
- Ensure a procedural surgical mask is placed on the suspected Covid-19 patient
- The patient should be placed on Contact and Airborne Precautions
- Anyone entering the room must wear gloves, a gown, eye protection, and an N-95 mask whether or not contact with the patient or their environment is anticipated
- Strictly follow PPE donning and doffing instructions on signage at the door. Make sure you are familiar with Covid-19 PPE. Click here for an instruction video. You can also call the IMT at 856-968-7900
- DO NOT SEND SPECIMENS VIA THE PNEUMATIC TUBE. Specimens should be double-bagged and physically carried to the Cooper laboratory.
- Practice strict, frequent hand hygiene
Here is a podcast from Raquel Nahra.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/novel-coronavirus/id1335759655?i=1000465473961
The latest CDC criteria (February 27, 2020) for a Person Under Investigation (PUI) are:
- Fever or signs/symptoms of lower respiratory illness (e.g. cough or shortness of breath) AND any person, including healthcare workers, who has had close contact with a laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patient within 14 days of symptom onset.
- Fever and signs/symptoms of a lower respiratory illness (e.g., cough or shortness of breath) requiring hospitalization AND a history of travel from affected geographic areas within 14 days of symptom onset
- Fever with severe acute lower respiratory illness (e.g., pneumonia, ARDS) requiring hospitalization and without alternative explanatory diagnosis (e.g., influenza) AND no source of exposure has been identified
For severe lower respiratory illness in hospitalized patients with no identified epidemiologic risk, clinical features that may increase suspicion of COVID-19 include:
- acute respiratory distress syndrome
- infiltrative process on chest x-ray (e.g., bilateral infiltrates consistent with viral pneumonitis).
- bilateral ground-glass opacities on chest computerized tomography
- unexplained lymphopenia or thrombocytopenia
If you identify a PUI in either the ambulatory, urgent care, outpatient, or inpatient areas, please contact the IMT 24/7/365 at 856-968-7900 IMMEDIATELY and they will guide you through your next steps.
Please remember that the admission criteria for these patients is the same as those you would use for any respiratory illness. Additional communication with more admission guidance will be forthcoming. If Patient does not need to be admitted, a call should still be made to IMT as the patient may meet testing criteria by the NJDOH.