Teams step up to provide point-of-care testing for COVID-19

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Recently, six units across Michigan Medicine have stepped up to make it possible for care teams to provide point-of-care testing for preprocedural patients who are not able to be tested before the day of their procedure.

These units have taken on staff training, running the tests and collaborated with procedural teams to develop new workflows, as well as scheduling and tracking systems so that tests can be offered in procedural areas nearby in their building or on the same campus.

The units where point of care testing is located are: UH IR, UH MPU, CVC CPU, C&W PACU, East Ann Arbor ASC/MPU and Brighton Center for Specialty Care ASC/MPU.

“These teams are not only performing testing in their areas, but they are servicing a number of other clinical units outside of their own, as well,” said Ella Kazerooni, M.D., M.S., associate chief clinical officer for diagnostics and clinical information management at Michigan Medicine. “This is true collaboration, and represents the best of what our teams do here at Michigan Medicine to make sure our patients receive the care they need.”

Kazerooni said that a number of departments, services and units have worked in collaboration on this project to bring this incremental COVID-19 testing online. Those teams include, but are not limited to:

• UH, including the OR, IR, cross-sectional radiology and PFT lab
• MPU, Taubman clinics (otolaryngology, general surgery and allergy)
• CVC, including the CPU (EP and Cath lab), OR with IR and cardiac testing units
• C&W, including the OR, CPU, radiology, VVWH and CHC
• East Ann Arbor OR, MPU with the Kellogg OR
• Brighton Center for Specialty Care OR, MPU and cross-sectional radiology

Thank you to all the faculty and staff who are assisting with this testing, and a huge maize and blue shout out to Lee Schroeder, M.D., Ph.D., and Karen Barron who lead the point of care team in pathology, for their leadership, knowledge and work to make this possible.

You are all helping Michigan Medicine stay as safe as possible for your colleagues, patients and families!