Clinical updates for diagnostic ultrasound during coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200611104759.htm
According to first author Apoorva Gogna and colleagues at Singapore General Hospital, "inpatient US services are segregated into the tertiary hospital and a colocated community hospital," adding that rooms with negative pressure ventilation are dedicated for isolation case scans. With all inpatient scans vetted for clinical urgency and COVID-19 status, patients not suspected of having COVID-19 arrive at a specified US imaging center via predefined route.
Suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases, as well as intensive care patients or those in reverse isolation due to an immunocompromised state, receive portable bedside US by a sonographer and an attending radiologist. "This is in contrast to our regular inpatient portable US workflow in which a trained sonographer performs the scan alone and uploads the images (usually for several patients consecutively), and the images are then sent to a dedicated radiologist for reporting," explained Gogna et al. Acknowledging that throughput is diminished when an on-duty radiologist and a sonographer work in tandem, Gogna maintains that this sacrifice ensures neither repeat scans nor additional images will be necessary.