Open AccessBracing for impact: operational upshots from the National Centre for Infectious Diseases Screening Centre (Singapore) during the COVID‐19 outbreak
Author(s) -
Manauis Charmaine Malenab,
Loh Marvin,
Kwan James,
Chua Mingzhou John,
Teo Han Jie,
Teng Kuan Peng David,
Vasoo Sushilan Shawn,
Leo Yee Sin,
Hou Ang
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of the american college of emergency physicians open
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2688-1152
DOI - 10.1002/emp2.12134
Subject(s) - isolation (microbiology) , blueprint , outbreak , contact tracing , pandemic , covid-19 , medical emergency , medicine , personal protective equipment , operations management , infectious disease (medical specialty) , engineering , virology , disease , pathology , mechanical engineering , microbiology and biotechnology , biology
To combat the ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic, Singapore has adopted a rigorous screening approach that involves aggressive contact tracing, rapid isolation of confirmed or suspect cases, and immediate ring‐fencing of emerging local clusters and hotspots. Our screening centre team has been involved in running Singapore's designated screening centre since the end of January this year. With a well‐defined blueprint and substantial pre‐outbreak preparatory work, initial operations at our screening centre commenced within a day on activation and full operational status was attained in 3 days. As of 8 April 2020, the screening centre had screened more than 14,000 patients. We have adopted a “whole‐of‐hospital” approach, enlisting the help from other departments and subspecialties to augment manpower. Meticulous infrastructure planning to facilitate patient flow and strict measures to prevent nosocomial transmission and occupational exposure were instituted to safeguard both the staff and patients. This paper aims to describe our key takeaways in the course of operations and discuss the challenges encountered.