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. 2021 Apr;69(4):964-970.
doi: 10.4103/ijo.IJO_3119_20.

Point-of-care rapid antigen testing for COVID-19 at a tertiary eye care facility: Role in commencement of elective surgeries, contact tracing and implementation of back-to-work policy

Devjyoti Tripathy  1 , Avik Kumar Roy  2 , Rohit C Khanna  3 , Subhadra Jalali  4 , Bharat Panigrahy  5 , Deepthi Chandran Parija  6 , Suryasnata Rath  7
Affiliations

Point-of-care rapid antigen testing for COVID-19 at a tertiary eye care facility: Role in commencement of elective surgeries, contact tracing and implementation of back-to-work policy

Devjyoti Tripathy et al. Indian J Ophthalmol. 2021 Apr.

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to report the use and the impact of a point-of-care rapid antigen test (PoC-RAT) at a tertiary eye care facility in facilitating commencement of elective surgeries, contact tracing of exposed health care professionals (HCPs) and ancillary hospital staff, and implementation of back-to-work (BTW) policy for them.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of subjects undergoing PoC-RAT for COVID-19 infection at a tertiary level dedicated eye care facility. Decision making with regard to commencement of elective surgeries post COVID-19 related discontinuation of services, contact tracing of HCPs and ancillary hospital staff exposed to known COVID-19 cases and implementation of back-to-work policy for all staff based upon the results of PoC-RAT were studied.

Results: A total of 311 subjects (224 patients and 87 hospital staff) were tested. Overall positivity rate was around 7%. Asymptomatic patients who were screened preoperatively had a lower positivity rate at around 3% compared to the staff (who were either known contacts or were symptomatic) at around 17%. Contact tracing found three-quarters of the staff at low risk and only one quarter at medium or high risk. Among patients, 97% of those followed up for at least 2 weeks after the test remained healthy. For staff, this was around 65%.

Conclusion: Based on our preliminary results, we suggest that PoC-RAT may be considered routinely for indication-based preoperative screening of asymptomatic patients, and for on-campus screening, contact tracing and implementation of BTW policies for HCPs and ancillary hospital staff at a tertiary level eye care facility.

Keywords: COVID-19; Contact tracing; elective surgery; point-of-care rapid antigen test.

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Conflict of interest statement

None

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Testing strategy followed for the PoC-RAT
Figure 2
Figure 2
An overview of the results
Figure 3
Figure 3
Stratification and distribution of contacts on contact tracing
Figure 4
Figure 4
Graph depicting trends in OPD, surgery and absenteeism rates
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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