Can You Catch It? Lessons Learned and Modification of ED Triage Symptom- and Travel-Screening Strategy.
Michelle M Schwedhelm, Jocelyn J Herstein, Suzanne M Watson and 4 others
PMID 32340737WHAT IT FOUND
Emergency department exposure investigations dropped from 30 in 2018 to zero in 2019 after adding an electronic symptom and travel screen.
This improvement relies on staff consistently asking screening questions at intake, not on automated detection alone.
Key findings
01Exposure investigations in the emergency department decreased from 30 in 2018 to 0 in 2019 following implementation of an electronic screening algorithm.
02Approximately 75% of patients were screened using the algorithm, with less than 1% flagged as potential high-risk cases.
03The screening process requires human compliance; staff must ask every patient screening questions regardless of visible symptoms.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study is a single-site quality improvement project, not a controlled trial. Key outcomes, including the reduction in exposure investigations, are based on estimates from hospital leadership rather than systematic data collection. The effectiveness of the screening depends entirely on staff consistently asking the questions; the system can be bypassed. The study does not report on patient outcomes or the clinical accuracy of the screening algorithm.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest or funding sources are reported in the text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the zero exposure investigations in 2019 as proof that the algorithm alone prevents transmission. The data are administrative estimates, and the reduction may reflect fewer high-risk patients presenting during that period rather than the screening tool's efficacy.