Screening Clinic for Coronavirus Disease 2019 to Prevent Intrahospital Spread in Daegu, Korea: a Single-Center Report

ABSTRACT

There is still a paucity of studies on real-world outcome of screening clinic for hospital protection from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). As the number of COVID-19 cases was growing rapidly in Daegu, Korea, we started operating an active screening clinic outside the hospital premises. Over two weeks, 2,087 patients were screened using real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, with 42 confirmed cases. Before the screening clinic period, an average of 36 beds (maximum 67 beds) per day were closed due to unrecognized COVID-19 patients entering the hospital. In contrast, after the screening clinic operated well, only one event of closing emergency room (25 beds) occurred due to a confirmed COVID-19 case of asymptomatic patient. We report the operational process of screening clinic for COVID-19 and its effectiveness in maintaining the function of tertiary hospitals.