Evaluating the Efficacy of a Screening Protocol for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Virus in Asymptomatic Preoperative/Preprocedural Patients at a Military Hospital.

Introduction: Facing the COVID-19 pandemic, many hospitals implemented severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) screening protocols before aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs) in an effort to protect patients and health care workers. Given the limited prior evidence on the effectiveness of such protocols, we report the process improvement experience at a military treatment facility.

Materials And Methods: We evaluated the outcomes of patients undergoing AGPs from March to September 2020, divided into three cohorts: a preprotocol (PP) cohort who did not receive screening, an early testing (ET) cohort representing the early months of the screening protocol, and a late testing (LT) cohort managed under adaptive modifications to the screening protocol.