Observational studyInfection control and hospital epidemiology2021
How to keep patients and staff safe from accidental SARS-CoV-2 exposure in the emergency room: Lessons from South Korea's explosive COVID-19 outbreak.
Observational study in Infection control and hospital epidemiology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Hospital-onset COVID-19 infection surveillance systems: a systematic review.The Journal of hospital infection · 2021Pooled it
- Diagnostic accuracy of visual triage checklist in early recognition of COVID-19 cases in the pediatric population: A retrospective cohort study.BMC pediatrics · 2025Article
- Impact of the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic on emergency department-to-intensive care unit admissions in Korea: an interrupted time-series analysis.BMC emergency medicine · 2024Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Admission and Mortality Among Patients With Severe Emergency Diseases at Emergency Departments in Korea in 2020: Registry Data From the National Emergency Department Information System.Journal of Korean medical science · 2023Article
- Collateral Effect of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic on Emergency Department Visits in Korea.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2022Article
- Recommendations for the safety of hospitalised patients in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review.BMJ open · 2022Article
- Healthcare Workforce Response to The Coronavirus Disease Outbreak in Daegu, Korea: A Multi-Center, Cross-Sectional Survey.Infection & chemotherapy · 2022Article
- A COVID-19 first evaluation clinic at a university hospital in Turkey.Turkish journal of medical sciences · 2022Article
- Exploring factors influencing the compliance of patients and family carers with infection prevention and control recommendations across Bangladesh, Indonesia, and South Korea.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- A Descriptive Study of Emergency Department Visits Within 30 Days of Discharge.Annals of geriatric medicine and research · 2021Article
- Impact of temporary closures of emergency departments during the COVID-19 outbreak on clinical outcomes for emergency patients in a metropolitan area.The American journal of emergency medicine · 2021Article
- SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Detection to Expand Testing Capacity for COVID-19: Results from a Hospital Emergency Department Testing Site.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesWe report our experience with an emergency room (ER) shutdown related to an accidental exposure to a patient with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) who had not been isolated.
settingA 635-bed, tertiary-care hospital in Daegu, South Korea.
methodsTo prevent nosocomial transmission of the disease, we subsequently isolated patients with suspected symptoms, relevant radiographic findings, or epidemiology. Severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assays (RT-PCR) were performed for most patients requiring hospitalization. A universal mask policy and comprehensive use of personal protective equipment (PPE) were implemented. We analyzed effects of these interventions.
resultsFrom the pre-shutdown period (February 10-25, 2020) to the post-shutdown period (February 28 to March 16, 2020), the mean hourly turnaround time decreased from 23:31 ±6:43 hours to 9:27 ±3:41 hours (P < .001). As a result, the proportion of the patients tested increased from 5.8% (N=1,037) to 64.6% (N=690) (P < .001) and the average number of tests per day increased from 3.8±4.3 to 24.7±5.0 (P < .001). All 23 patients with COVID-19 in the post-shutdown period were isolated in the ER without any problematic accidental exposure or nosocomial transmission. After the shutdown, several metrics increased. The median duration of stay in the ER among hospitalized patients increased from 4:30 hours (interquartile range [IQR], 2:17-9:48) to 14:33 hours (IQR, 6:55-24:50) (P < .001). Rates of intensive care unit admissions increased from 1.4% to 2.9% (P = .023), and mortality increased from 0.9% to 3.0% (P = .001).
conclusionsProblematic accidental exposure and nosocomial transmission of COVID-19 can be successfully prevented through active isolation and surveillance policies and comprehensive PPE use despite longer ER stays and the presence of more severely ill patients during a severe COVID-19 outbreak.
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