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Management of Suspected Exposures to the Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV)

John Bennett (Bethesda, MD), Dave Gilbert (Portland, OR), Duane Hospenthal (San Antonio, TX), David Busch (San Francisco, CA) and other members of the EIN Executive Committee are asking their EIN colleagues for advice. We are interested in how your healthcare institutions are managing suspected exposures to the novel coronavirus and Patients Under Investigation (PUI). We will continue to share the results via the listserv quickly so your colleagues' advice can be useful as institutions develop plans.

Thank you for your help with this query.


    Name:
  1. State of practice:   

    Regarding an employee exposure management plan:
  2. Has your institution developed protocols for identifying and monitoring employees who have traveled from China (or had contact with a confirmed case of nCoV)?
      No      Yes     Not sure

  3. Are you encountering difficulty in getting a PCR for nCoV done?     
      No      Yes     Not sure
       If yes, please comment on the difficulties:

  4. a. Have you suspected nCoV infection in any person who does not meet the current CDC PUI definition (e.g. milder presentation, but travel or contact risk)?
      No      Yes     Not sure
    b. If yes, how was the patient identified?
    c. If yes, have you advised anyone to implement infection control precautions (e.g. home isolation) despite not proceeding to nCoV testing?
      No      Yes     Not sure

  5. Does your institution have protocols:
    a. for controlled entry and rapid isolation of potential PUIs?

      No      Yes     Not sure
    b. for obtaining testing on PUIs at off-site locations?
      No      Yes     Not sure

  6. Does your institution currently have sufficient supply of:
    a. Airborne infection isolation rooms (AIIR)?     No    Yes     Not sure
    b. N-95 masks?     No    Yes     Not sure
    c. PAPR/CAPR?     No    Yes     Not sure
    d. Isolation gowns?     No    Yes     Not sure

  7. Please provide additional questions or advice about managing suspected exposures or PUI:
  8. Should any of the above questions be deleted? Should new questions be added?


    We encourage you to answer a separate EIN query on initial preparedness including plans for screening PUI here: Screening Quick Query