New Rapid Testing Now In Place For Quick Assessment Of Patients In Hospital

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New rapid testing at Windsor Regional Hospital will allow them to assess much more quickly whether in-patients in hospital are carrying the COVID-19 virus.

Implementation of the GeneXpert instrument by laboratory staff and the vendor, Inter Medico, is complete and Medical Laboratory Technologists have been trained in the use of the instrument, which was also validated by testing known samples to verify performance and accuracy.

The hospital says they can now test up to 200 individuals per week, which is the maximum amount of weekly tests available for use due to an international supply shortage.

Testing will focus on in-patients in hospital who need to be tested to confirm whether they have recovered from the virus, or acquired it. The testing can also be used for critical and emergency patients, with need determined by our medical staff.

It cannot be used for mass testing.

Once a test sample is received in the laboratory, the results can be known within one hour.

The testing allows for better bed allocation–knowing where to place patients so that we are not mixing COVID-19 positive patients with those who don’t have the virus. It will also allow for quicker decisions on what unit  a patient will be transferred to, as well as the amount of personal protective equipment required by staff treating the patient.