Histopathology laboratory paperwork as a potential risk of COVID-19 transmission among laboratory personnel
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Published on: September 12, 2018
Abdulkarim Hasan1, Khalid Nafie2, Osama Abbadi3
1Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
Insights
Paper request forms for COVID-19 testing pose a significant SARS-CoV-2 transmission risk to laboratory staff. Replacing paper forms with electronic requests or sterilizing paperwork is recommended to enhance safety.
Area of Science:
- Infectious Diseases
- Laboratory Medicine
- Occupational Health
Background:
- Healthcare workers face elevated risks of COVID-19 infection.
- Manual, paper-based forms are standard for pathological investigation requests.
- Assessing SARS-CoV-2 transmission risk via paper forms is crucial for post-COVID-19 hospital protocols.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from paper request forms to laboratory personnel.
- To provide recommendations for managing hospital paperwork safely in the future.
Main Methods:
- Tracking paper forms from ordering to report release.
- Calculating form transit times to the laboratory.
- Assessing staff exposure to forms from high and moderate COVID-19 risk areas.
Main Results:
- 83% of forms arrived within 24 hours; 17% took longer.
- Mean daily paperwork exposure: receptionists (2.7 min), technicians (5.5 min), pathologists (54.6 min).
- Over 80% of forms handled within 24 hours present a high transmission risk.
Conclusions:
- Paper-based request forms pose a significant risk for viral transmission.
- Transitioning to electronic requests or sterilizing paper forms is advised.
- Further research on SARS-CoV-2 stability on surfaces is needed.
Background:
Healthcare workers have a higher risk of acquiring coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The process of requesting pathological investigations is usually handled manually through paper-based forms. This study evaluated the potential for paper-based request forms to transmit severe acute respiratory virus coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) to laboratory staff in order to make recommendations for dealing with hospital paperwork in a post-COVID-19 world.
Methods:
Paper-based forms were tracked from the time of test ordering until the release of the pathology report by calculating the time taken for the forms to reach the laboratory, and the exposure of each staff group to forms received from both high and moderate COVID-19 risk areas.
Results:
Four hundred and thirty-two (83%) of 520 forms were received in the laboratory within 24 h. The remaining 88 (17%) forms took ≥24 h to be handled by laboratory personnel. The mean daily exposure time to the paperwork for various laboratory staff was as follows: receptionists, 2.7 min; technicians, 5.5 min; and pathologists, 54.6 min.
Conclusion:
More than 80% of the forms were handled by laboratory personnel within 24 h, carrying a high potential risk for viral transmission. It is recommended that paper-based request forms should be replaced by electronic requests that could be printed in the laboratory if required. Another option would be to sterilize received paperwork to ensure the safety of laboratory personnel. More studies are needed to detect the stability of SARS-CoV-2 on different surfaces and determine the potential risk of COVID-19 transmission via paper.
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