Starting Jan. 4, the Salem Hospital Lab will process pre-procedural COVID-19 tests for scheduled surgical/procedural patients here at our regional lab instead of having to send samples to a reference site.
This service will decrease the time between test and procedure – and increase the safety of the patient and the team taking care of them.
What does this mean for you?
1. The timeframe for COVID testing will change from sending the patient 7 days to 3 days before surgery to get their nasal swab.
2. The order that should be used for scheduled procedure testing will be LAB4147 COVID19, Coronavirus SARS COV2 by NAAT. The old send-out order will be automatically re-routed for now and will be discontinued in the future.
Please see the updated testing workflow sheet for further clarification and a handy chart for when to send your patient for testing.