Medical technologists play a direct role in blood collections and immunochromatographic tests of out-patients with scheduled surgery under general anesthesia in COVID-19 triage strategies

Abstract

Amid the ongoing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection (COVID-19) pandemic, control and preventive measures against SARS-CoV-2 infection are required to be implemented in medical institutes. In our hospital, a screening approach to detect COVID-19 patients using rapid immunochromatographic tests has been implemented to reduce the risk of infection among the hospital staff and prevent nosocomial infections. Here, we report the outcomes of the screening tests and significance of engaging professional medical technologists licensed by the Japanese government in the triage of patients with scheduled surgery by performing finger-prick blood sampling and evaluating the test results. A total of 325 patients were admitted to the hospital to undergo scheduled surgery under general anesthesia between May 11 and June 17, 2020. Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 were detected in 16 patients (4.9%) using the immunochromatographic tests. The antibodies identified were IgM and IgG in 14 and 2 patients, respectively. All patients identified to be positive using antibody tests were then subjected to the nasopharyngeal swab examination; however, none of the patients were identified to be positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assays. Consequently, all surgeries were performed as scheduled, except for five that were postponed for other reasons, and the occurrence of COVID-19 was not reported among patients admitted to our hospital. Our data suggest that antibody testing using rapid immunochromatography could be considered an alternative to the cost- and time-consuming PCR or LAMP assays for screening COVID-19 patients. Furthermore, medical technologists may provide crucial professional clinical laboratory skills as members of the COVID-19 task force.