ASET- The Neurodiagnostic Society
Recently the American Society for Electrodiagnostic Technologists (ASET) published its recommendations on the appropriate infection control precautions to follow when providing needed diagnostic EEG procedures, assuming the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing the COVID-19 pandemic. We have a link below to the document.
ASET has also made available, in pre-publication, a paper presenting a case study of a patient with COVID-19 with discussion covering considerations for staff safety, adjustments in procedures to minimize time in room and appropriate disinfection steps. Full detailed text of this article will be published in The Neurodiagnostic Journal, Volume 60, Issue 2, June 2020, and will be Open Access, published online ahead of print.
Practical Considerations When Performing Neurodiagnostic Studies on Patients with COVID-19 and Other Highly Contagious Diseases*
Seline Haines, BS, R. EEG/EP T.; CNIM; Amy Caccamo, R. EEG/EP T., CLTM; Fonda Chan, M.D.; Puneet Gupta, M.D., M.S.E.
Download a copy of this article:
CortiCare recommends all neurodiagnostic professionals follow the ASET, ACNS and CDC resources and recommendations when providing needed EEG services during the pandemic.
At CortiCare, our team provides EEG services customized to fit your patients’ needs. In the current environment of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have the resources to deliver these services to your patients whom you might not want to evaluate in the hospital setting. Routine outpatient EEG studies and elective admissions to hospitals for EMU monitoring are being postponed, so wait times may be excessive. These tests are essential for identifying interictal abnormalities and capturing ictal events for accurate diagnoses, treatment and medication management. No one knows for sure how long this pandemic will last or when operations will begin returning to normal but, in the interim, we can test your patients in the comfort of their own homes utilizing best practices for infection control to ensure the safety of both your patients and our staff.
We can also provide aid to your hospital during staffing shortages in the inpatient setting. If your hospital is limiting your EEG staff under current circumstances perhaps by moving to an on-call only service, we can help by providing remote continuous live monitoring on all LTM/ICU studies by registered EEG technologists 24/7 to meet the CMS-mandated 1:4 technologist to patient ratio in your time of need.
If your hospital does not have an EEG department or a technologist with equipment on staff, we can help by providing the resources you need. Reach out to us for more information on how we can customize our services to meet your needs! If you need information on how best to protect your EEG staff during neurodiagnostic procedures on suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients, see the resources below.
Downloads & Links
Access the ACNS COVID-19 Resource Page here
