COVID-19 Imaging in a Tertiary Care Setting – The Zurich Approach
Victor Mergen1, Annelies Zinkernagel2, Dagmar I. Keller3, Thomas Frauenfelder1, Hatem Alkadhi1, Andreas Boss11Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Zurich, University Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, 2Institute for Emergency Medicine, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, 3Department of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Zurich, University Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland,
The COVID-19 pandemic not only poses an existential threat to the entire society, but also poses a major challenge for hospitals, which cannot be met without interdisciplinary teamwork. For radiological institutions, trade-offs need to be made between radiological imaging capacity required for timely diagnosis of COVID-19, available resources for non- COVID-19-related diseases as well as the risk of infection to healthcare co-workers such as technicians and radiologists. In this study, we describe the scheme implemented at the University Hospital Zurich (Switzerland). The essence of the Zurich approach is early triaging of patients into four categories with either (i) proven COVID-19, (ii) high-risk of COVID- 19, (iii) low risk of COVID-19, and (iv) no suspicion of COVID-19, with subsequent procedures including separation of patient pathways taking into account the availability of imaging modalities and protection measures for exposed healthcare workers. With the imposed measures, we were able to avoid any infections to healthcare workers at our hospital over a 3 months period at the height of the COVID-19 crisis in spring 2020. We hope to provide helpful insights for radiological institutions preparing for or coping with the COVID-19 pandemic with the following description. Keywords: COVID-19, health care worker, management, protection, radiology department
Cite This Article
Mergen V, Zinkernagel A, Keller D, Frauenfelder T, Alkadhi H, Boss A. COVID-19 Imaging in a Tertiary Care Setting – The Zurich Approach. EJMO. 2020; 4(3): 260-263
Corresponding Author: Andreas Boss