PRMC gets rapid COVID-19 testing, studies suggest pregnant women may be asymptomatic
SALISBURY, Md. – Dr. Chris Snyder at Peninsula Regional Medical Center says the hospital now has rapid testing and it’s going to be a major game changer.
Dr. Snyder says PRMC received the rapid tests on Monday. However, they’re not able to make these rapid tests widely available yet because there’s still a shortage of resources. He says COVID-19 is sort of creating tunnel vision with many people thinking everything is coronavirus but this rapid testing means they only have to wait about an hour to know if someone is positive for COVID-19.
“The main thing is to protect the staff honestly. To make the staff aware if [patients] are positive. Right now we are having 24 hours where we are kind of in the unknown. So we tend to use a lot more Personal Protective Equipment, the PPE, the masks, the gowns, the gloves all that everything because we over isolate ourselves or that patient,” says Dr. Chris Snyder, the Chief Quality Officer at PRMC.
“There are some studies showing that patients who are pregnant are asymptomatic with this virus. It’s kind of interesting so we’re not sure if they are presenting or if they have any risk factors. We’re probably going to go ahead and use [rapid testing] on them. Obviously they are in the hospital having a baby. They are usually here 24 to 36 hours. So if we sent a state test out, it doesn’t make much sense to do that,” says Dr. Snyder. “Folks going into the operating room for example, we are using the rapid testing to identify them so we know they are not COVID positive so we don’t contaminate our entire operating room with COVID. By ruling them out it’s important. And if we rule them in, we have negative pressure rooms in the operating area where we can actually put patients who have COVID.”
Dr. Snyder says rapid testing is believed to be more accurate than the tests that are sent to state labs. However, the hospital’s microbiologist and infectious disease doctor are actively monitoring rapid test results to see if that’s true and to make sure there are no false negative or false positive results.
