A cotton swab used in a nasal passage as health care professionals test for COVID-19 at the … [+]
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The nation’s largest health insurer says “a patient-administered test process is as effective as the current clinician-administered test process,” which should open the door to safer and more efficient related to the Coronavirus strain COVID-19.
A study funded by UnitedHealth Group shows people can self-administer a diagnostic test with a much smaller swab, a process that should save hundreds of thousands of clinicians from being exposed to the virus while at the same time making the testing simpler.
UnitedHealth Group said its research and development unit partnered with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the University of Washington and Quest Diagnostics to conduct the study.
“We know that broad, rapid and accurate testing is essential to addressing the COVID-19 crisis, yet the current clinician-administered process significantly limits testing capacity, puts frontline health care workers at risk of COVID-19 exposure, and is unpleasant for patients,” Dr. Yuan-Po Tu, an infectious disease expert at The Everett Clinic and the study’s lead author said in a statement accompanying the report. Everett Clinic is a part of OptumCare, the medical care provider business of UnitedHealth.
“Making simple, patient-administered testing widely available will substantially improve testing efficiency, while protecting health care workers and preserving urgently needed personal protective equipment, such as face masks, gowns and gloves,” Tu said.
you can self-administer the test with a much smaller swap. . . in doing that you are not . . should save clinicisian from being exposed to high viral loads, make the tests simpler and it will save the limted masks and gowsn. . .
