MUSC Health at the 石榴视频黄色版 has become the first hospital/medical center in the state capable of doing its own COVID-19 testing.听

, chief quality officer for MUSC Health, said in-house testing started March 23. 鈥淣ot only can we accommodate our entire internal demand for the entire system 鈥斕齜oth inpatient and outpatient for all of our five hospitals 鈥斕齱e鈥檝e also been able to accommodate some of our local hospitals and affiliate partners.鈥�

Before March 23, MUSC Health had to send specimens to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control and private labs for testing. Scheurer said because of the high volume, it took longer than doctors and patients would like to get results.

But now that MUSC Health is doing its own testing, Scheurer said the wait time for results is dramatically shorter. 鈥淲e started measuring our average turnaround time on March 23. From the time we receive the sample to the result showing up in the patient鈥檚 medical record so they can find out if they have COVID-19 is 35 hours.鈥�

It鈥檚 the latest development as MUSC Health finds innovative ways to handle the pandemic鈥檚 impact.听

Its added COVID-19 to its virtual urgent care options weeks ago, giving everyone across the state . So far, almost 20,000 South Carolinians have used it to find out if they might have COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus that was first detected late last year and has spread around the globe.

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Then, MUSC Health opened the state鈥檚 first drive-through specimen collection site for people suspected of being infected with the virus. The drive-through site at Citadel Mall is now seeing between 300 and 400 patients a day, six days a week.

MUSC Health also tapped the expertise of MUSC鈥檚 pathology and laboratory medicine specialists to get diagnostic instruments normally used for other clinical tests to start testing for COVID-19. , an infectious disease diagnostics expert and a professor in the College of Medicine, said his team was well prepared. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got the skill level and the resources in the clinical lab needed to do this.鈥�

, chairman of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, called the in-house testing a huge deal. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 even know the scale of the problem we were dealing with before we were able to do our own testing,鈥� he said.

And that testing continues to expand. , serves as senior associate dean for research at MUSC. 鈥淭he entire MUSC enterprise has come to participate. We鈥檙e going to take machines from the research side of the equation that are approved and put them to work clinically so that we can really get these tests out in a timely manner that clinicians need and people need and everyone needs,鈥� he said.

, dean of the College of Medicine, said he鈥檚 grateful for the team effort and collaboration. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just trying to help get as many tests done as possible. It鈥檚 so important to know whether you have been infected by the virus.听

鈥淲ith a positive test result, you will know to stay away from your family members to avoid exposing them and shelter in place at home for at least two weeks. Ample testing is key to being able to make correct decisions about what the best action to take is. Once people who have COVID-19 are isolated, they can鈥檛 spread that to others, so that action will help to flatten the curve.鈥�

Scheurer said they鈥檙e all preparing for that curve, the rate at which infections climb in South Carolina, to surge in the coming weeks. 鈥淲e鈥檙e probably between three and four weeks out,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 based on some modeling that our public health department has been doing. The modeling gets more precise as time goes on. We鈥檙e watching it every day.鈥�

The COVID-19 testing now in its second week at MUSC Health will help health care providers get ready by telling them when to use special supplies and when they鈥檙e safe without them. It鈥檚 important to protect them from catching the virus so they can keep taking care of people who are seriously ill.

鈥淲e know there鈥檚 a national shortage of personal protective equipment. There are rolling outages. The national supply chain is very sporadic,鈥� Scheurer said. 鈥淲hen we get a quick negative test result, it allows us to stop using unnecessary PPEs so we can stockpile them for a surge, whenever that ends up coming. The rapidity of results can make a huge difference in how we鈥檙e going to be able to handle the surge.鈥�

On a more immediate level, Scheurer wants to remind people who need to be tested for COVID-19 that it will cause temporary discomfort. 鈥淲e do hear some complaints, she said. 鈥淏ut a good test, meaning like a good solid nasal swab, should be uncomfortable because it means they鈥檙e getting a good sample. The virus tends to live pretty far back in what we call the pharynx. If it鈥檚 a comfortable test where you don鈥檛 notice they鈥檙e doing it, that may not be a good thing.鈥�