While it used to take a week or longer to initially get test results sent out and back, the new procedures get results in as little as 90 minutes, said Margaret Durkin, lab manager at the Milwaukee VA.
“You know, labs in general, are usually working behind the scenes, but 70 to 80 percent of all physician decisions are based on lab results,” she said. “It makes us happy that we are able to do this testing. It’s important work.”
When coronavirus cases started ramping up across the U.S., many health care facilities played a catch-up game since there weren’t a lot of testing machines and testing sites available.
The Milwaukee VA initially began sending out swabs for testing March 12, to a contracted lab in Illinois. That lab didn’t have the proper equipment and had to forward them to a sister facility in California.
“This delay in diagnosis could increase the spread unless the afflicted individual just assumes they are positive in the interim, which is unlikely,” said Dr. Michael Erdmann, Milwaukee VA chief of staff. “If they are inpatients, it also increases the need to use personal protective equipment that may not have been needed if their test was negative.”
With protective equipment initially in short supply across the nation, it was critical for VA and other health care facilities to conserve what was on hand.
By March 18, the Milwaukee Public Health Department and Wisconsin Diagnostic Labs were up and running with their own test sites. But because they were testing for many hospitals around the state, the turnaround was still up to three days.
“The challenge really, across the nation, was getting the right equipment,” Durkin said. “Companies had to build the machines and the instruments needed, and then to get them validated to make sure they worked properly. Then there was a ramp-up getting them from the vendors.”
Each swab has to be put in a vial with a special liquid preservative that was also in short supply across the nation. Milwaukee VA technologists, working with Pharmacy and Research, figured out how to make that in-house as well.
“We got the approved recipe, and made thousands of vials that are now ready to be used,” Durkin said. “That was really a team effort of a lot of people coming together.”
In-house testing began March 29, and Durkin said so far the local lab has tested 333 Veterans and 84 employees. They also helped other area VA medical centers with tests until their labs were ready.
“Like other hospitals, we are still conserving who we test until we can have a consistent supply of materials,” she said.
Dr. Bruce Dunn, VISN 12 chief pathologist, said it was a Herculean effort. “They have done an amazing job, working in our lab and coordinating efforts with other technologists,” he said. When COVID-19 is suspected, doctors must first take a deep nasal swab that is placed in a special vial with the liquid preservative before it is taken to the lab. There are two different type of tests – one takes about 90 minutes and the other about three hours.
Durkin said her staff of about 70 technologists are working all three shifts to do the tests.
“We’d rather be doing the testing here instead of filling out paperwork to send it elsewhere. It gives us a connection to this. We’re dealing with something that none of us have experienced in our lifetimes,” Durkin said. “I’m just glad we’re able to do it, and proud that we are able to take care of our Veterans and patients.”
