Implementation and Process of a COVID-19 Contact Tracing Initiative: Leveraging Health Professional Students to Extend the Workforce During a Pandemic - 18/11/20
, Matthew Pelton, BA a, Jed Gonzalo, MD MSc a, Ping Du, MD PhD a, Cara Exten, PhD MPH b, Kaleb Bogale, BS a, Lindsay Buzzelli, BS c, Mary Connolly, BS a, Katelyn Edel, MPH c, Amy Hoffman, BA c, Nicole R. Legro, BS a, Daniela Medina, BS a, Natasha Sood, MPH a, Joshua Blaker, BS a, Kalen Kearcher, MS a, Christopher Sciamanna, MD MPH a
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Highlights |
• | Health professional students can effectively implement a contact tracing initiative |
• | A replicable workflow and onboarding system aids in efficient contact tracing |
• | Testing capacity, community buy-in, and sparse resources can impact contact tracing |
Résumé |
Background |
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends aggressive contact tracing to control the COVID-19 pandemic. In this work, we (1) describe the development of a COVID-19 contact tracing initiative that includes medical, nursing, and public health students, and is led by clinicians and infectious disease epidemiologists within our health system, and, (2) articulate process steps for contact tracing including workflows and telephone scripts, and, (3) highlight the key challenges and strategies to overcome these challenges.
Methods |
A single academic institution-based contact tracing initiative was rapidly scaled to 110 health professional students, four physicians, two epidemiologists, and a research team. Following training, students called patients who were COVID-19 positive and the individuals they were in contact with to ensure proper isolation and quarantine measures. Students also assisted those who faced barriers to quarantine.
Implications |
In total, between March 24 and May 28 – this initiative completed contact tracing for 536 confirmed cases, which resulted in the identification of 953 contacts. We aim to disseminate this process, including telephone scripts and workflow, to other health systems for use in their initiatives to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and future public health emergencies.
Le texte complet de cet article est disponible en PDF.Key Words : Contact tracing, Medical education, Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Plan
| Conflict of Interest: None to report. |
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| Acknowledgments: We thank Dr. Christopher Sciamanna (Penn State College of Medicine), Dr. Ping Du (Penn State College of Medicine), and Dr. Cara Exten (Penn State College of Nursing) for their leadership and support of this contact tracing program. The authors would also like to acknowledge Sheilah Yohn (Penn State College of Nursing) for her efforts in organizing the interprofessional collaboration on this initiative in addition to Jim Marks (Penn State College of Medicine) for his work as REDCap support and database management. Further, we thank the more than one hundred student volunteer contact tracers for their commitment to this program and to the health of our community. This manuscript is a direct result of that commitment. |
Vol 48 - N° 12
P. 1451-1456 - décembre 2020 Retour au numéro
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