2. Materials and Methods:
2.1 Ethical Considerations:
Approval was granted from local clinical governance departments to
conduct this quality improvement project assessing local policy for
triaging and testing suspected cases of COVID-19, ethical approval was
sought but not required.
2.2 Study Participants and Protocol:
A survey was conducted in adult patients and staff with laboratory
confirmed COVID-19 infection in a District General Hospital in the North
East of England. A questionnaire was used for data collection,
comprising of well recognised symptoms of COVID-19 and common URTI
symptoms. Verbal interviews were conducted by telephone or face-to-face
with informed consent.
All patients with SARS-CoV-2 detected on throat or nasal swab PCR were
identified each day for a 7-day period. Those interviewed included 14/65
outpatients (13 uncontactable, 35 unable to consent, 3 readmitted to
other inpatient units) and 32/66 inpatients (34 unable to consent). All
ward and emergency department staff on shift on 2 consecutive days were
asked to voluntarily answer the questionnaire if they had tested
positive for COVID-19.
Data was analysed predominantly using Pearson Chi Square tests in SPSS
with significance level of p<0.05, all tests 2-sided.