UMass Memorial, now testing 70% of admitted patients, working to test all

Photo | Grant Welker UMass Memorial Medical Center's Memorial Campus in Worcester

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By Grant Welker

UMass Memorial Medical Center is testing about 70% of its admitted patients for coronavirus and has plans to soon test all.

The Worcester hospital already tests pregnant women who have coronavirus symptoms, as well as some arriving for procedures, including vascular and urology patients. Now the hospital's leadership is working with its infectious disease and clinical operations teams to figure out how to test everyone admitted, Chief Nursing Officer Justin Precourt said in an online staff forum Friday.

"We just want to get that additional 30%," Precourt said.

Patients are planned to be tested within 48 hours of a procedure. If they test positive, their physicians will follow up with them on next steps.

Plans to test all admitted patients comes as UMass Memorial looks ahead to treating a deep backlog of procedures that were postponed because of the pandemic. Hospital officials said in early May they had 1,000 procedures in a backlog through the end of April and would have 3,000 cases to make up if the virus requires more postponements through the end of May.

The hospital is planning a series of measures to cut down on those cases, including adding two temporary operating rooms at the Memorial Campus, extending hours at the Hahnemann Campus, and holding Saturday and evening hours at the Memorial and University campuses. Combined, those moves are estimated to allow for an extra 1,000 procedures over the course of a month, Precourt previously said.

A post-pandemic planning task force meeting daily has already set some reopening points starting May 18. Three operating rooms will open for urgent outpatient cases at Hahnemann, and two endoscopy procedure rooms will open for urgent outpatient cases at 21 Eastern Ave. Mammogram screenings will restart at a clinic at Julio Drive in Shrewsbury that day.

UMass Memorial and other hospitals have been urging patients with emergency needs to go to the hospital, ensuring precautions are made to keep coronavirus patients separated. Emergency department personnel have found, for example, patients are arriving later with stroke symptoms than typical, complicating their recovery, President and CEO Eric Dickson said.

"That's going to create a burden of disease on these things in the future," Dickson said of such delays in seeking care. Hospital leadership, he said, is preparing for the coming months to include caring for not only patients who've delayed or had to postpone care, but also continuing cases of coronavirus.

Planning for returning non-medical staff to work is ongoing and is likely to take place in phases. Those who can continue to work remotely will do so longer, but those who can't work from home but have been paid to stay home and not work will no longer be given that pay starting May 18.

Dickson warned that a post-peak period won't mean the virus won't still be around as a major factor.

"It'll be with us for at least the next year, hopefully at a much lower level of disease than today," he said. "We're all going to have to prepare for a new normal."

Until then, UMass Memorial should have enough personal protective equipment to last through what they anticipate is the peak of cases.

The hospital has secured more than 1.1 million pieces of protective equipment including masks, gowns and gloves. A supply of gowns, once down to just a day or two, now lasts seven to 10 days. The hospital is also using ultraviolet light and a hydrogen peroxide sterilization system to disinfect reusable protective equipment.