OSU hospital stops COVID tests for all emergency room patients
As the number of available doctors and nurses continues to drop, the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is moving away from universal testing for COVID-19.
“That's a step that many health care systems have taken in response to the high volume they're seeing,” OSU Director of Emergency Preparedness Dr. Daniel Bachmann said during a press conference Thursday.
Patients coming to the emergency room will be evaluated on a case-bycase basis to see whether a COVID-19 test is needed based on factors like whether the patient has any symptoms or pre-existing conditions that could make catching the coronavirus deadly.
Testing every patient “adds to some of the inefficiency” hospitals like OSU are trying to minimize as cases rise even among their own staff.
“We are also using our staff in creative ways to provide higher capacity,” Bachmann said.
It's a practice the Ohio Hospital Association
has been hearing about too.
“I think hospitals are pivoting to make those changes,” OHA spokesman John Palmer said. “I don't know if it's a blanket every hospital is doing that.”
Ohio reported more than 20,000 new cases Wednesday, and the state recently surpassed 100,000 total hospitalizations since the start of the pandemic.
“The omicron variant continues to sweep through Ohio fueling what is nothing short of a tidal wave,” Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff said during the press conference.
Hospitals across the Buckeye State have asked for help due to staffing shortages. Gov. Mike Dewine deployed the national guard in recent weeks. And President Joe Biden announced the deployment of 20 U.S. Air Force doctors to the Cleveland Clinic Thursday.
“What we see in the president's action is a clear validation that Ohio has been on the front end of this surge,” Vanderhoff said.
Cleveland Clinic was the first Ohio hospital to get approved for federal assistance but more troops could be deployed in the coming weeks.
“There are other hospitals with whom we have been working,” he said. “I don't know the state of those application processes as we are speaking now.”
Anna Staver is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau. It serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.