RESUMO
Public health laboratories have played a central role in the US response to COVID-19. Since the earliest days, myriad issues have impeded the laboratory community's ability to keep pace with the overwhelming demand for effective tests. In this article, the Association of Public Health Laboratories and a subset of its members examine the response to date and evaluate lessons learned from 4 main categories: testing surges, supplies, staffing, and regulations and policy. Within these categories, the authors offer recommendations intended both to improve the ongoing COVID-19 response and to strengthen planning for future outbreaks.
Assuntos
COVID-19/prevenção & controle , Surtos de Doenças/prevenção & controle , Guias como Assunto , Ciência de Laboratório Médico/tendências , Pandemias/prevenção & controle , Saúde Pública/normas , Saúde Pública/tendências , COVID-19/epidemiologia , Previsões , Humanos , Ciência de Laboratório Médico/estatística & dados numéricos , SARS-CoV-2 , Estados Unidos/epidemiologiaAssuntos
Doenças Transmissíveis Emergentes/prevenção & controle , Surtos de Doenças/prevenção & controle , Saúde Global , Laboratórios/organização & administração , Liderança , Saúde Pública/métodos , África Ocidental , Técnicas de Laboratório Clínico/normas , Europa (Continente) , Humanos , Estados UnidosRESUMO
Beginning in early 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Association of Public Health Laboratories launched the Laboratory Efficiencies Initiative (LEI) to help public health laboratories (PHLs) and the nation's entire PHL system achieve and maintain sustainability to continue to conduct vital services in the face of unprecedented financial and other pressures. The LEI focuses on stimulating substantial gains in laboratories' operating efficiency and cost efficiency through the adoption of proven and promising management practices. In its first year, the LEI generated a strategic plan and a number of resources that PHL directors can use toward achieving LEI goals. Additionally, the first year saw the formation of a dynamic community of practitioners committed to implementing the LEI strategic plan in coordination with state and local public health executives, program officials, foundations, and other key partners.