Contact tracing with a real-time location system: A case study of increasing relative effectiveness in an emergency department

Hellmich, Thomas; Clements, Casey M.; El-Sherif, Nibras; Pasupathy, Kalyan S.; Nestler, David M.; Boggust, Andy; Ernste, Vickie K.; Marisamy, Gomathi; Koenig, Kyle; Hallbeck, M. Susan

doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2017.08.014

Cited by 35 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Several health care institutions have benefitted from the use of a real-time locating system (RTLS) for contact tracing. Hellmich et al [ 11 ] were able to identify twice as many potential contacts of confirmed pertussis cases in an emergency department with RTLS compared with EMR review. Ho et al [ 12 ] also found that the use of location-based RTLSs to complement EMR review increased the sensitivity of detecting health care workers’ contact with COVID-19 inpatients from 47.2% to 77.8%.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ho et al [ 12 ] also found that the use of location-based RTLSs to complement EMR review increased the sensitivity of detecting health care workers’ contact with COVID-19 inpatients from 47.2% to 77.8%. However, despite the positive outcomes of using RTLSs for contact tracing [ 11 - 13 ], such technologies have largely been confined to health care institutions due to the high costs of infrastructure setup [ 14 , 15 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Performance of Digital Contact Tracing Tools for COVID-19 Response in Singapore: Cross-Sectional Study

Huang¹,

Guo²,

Lee³

et al. 2020

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth

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Background Effective contact tracing is labor intensive and time sensitive during the COVID-19 pandemic, but also essential in the absence of effective treatment and vaccines. Singapore launched the first Bluetooth-based contact tracing app—TraceTogether—in March 2020 to augment Singapore’s contact tracing capabilities. Objective This study aims to compare the performance of the contact tracing app—TraceTogether—with that of a wearable tag-based real-time locating system (RTLS) and to validate them against the electronic medical records at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID), the national referral center for COVID-19 screening. Methods All patients and physicians in the NCID screening center were issued RTLS tags (CADI Scientific) for contact tracing. In total, 18 physicians were deployed to the NCID screening center from May 10 to May 20, 2020. The physicians activated the TraceTogether app (version 1.6; GovTech) on their smartphones during shifts and urged their patients to use the app. We compared patient contacts identified by TraceTogether and those identified by RTLS tags within the NCID vicinity during physicians’ 10-day posting. We also validated both digital contact tracing tools by verifying the physician-patient contacts with the electronic medical records of 156 patients who attended the NCID screening center over a 24-hour time frame within the study period. Results RTLS tags had a high sensitivity of 95.3% for detecting patient contacts identified either by the system or TraceTogether while TraceTogether had an overall sensitivity of 6.5% and performed significantly better on Android phones than iPhones (Android: 9.7%, iPhone: 2.7%; P<.001). When validated against the electronic medical records, RTLS tags had a sensitivity of 96.9% and specificity of 83.1%, while TraceTogether only detected 2 patient contacts with physicians who did not attend to them. Conclusions TraceTogether had a much lower sensitivity than RTLS tags for identifying patient contacts in a clinical setting. Although the tag-based RTLS performed well for contact tracing in a clinical setting, its implementation in the community would be more challenging than TraceTogether. Given the uncertainty of the adoption and capabilities of contact tracing apps, policy makers should be cautioned against overreliance on such apps for contact tracing. Nonetheless, leveraging technology to augment conventional manual contact tracing is a necessary move for returning some normalcy to life during the long haul of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance of Digital Contact Tracing Tools for COVID-19 Response in Singapore: Cross-Sectional Study

Huang¹,

Guo²,

Lee³

et al. 2020

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth

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“…Each patient is assigned a seat number that is recorded for contact tracing purposes. Contact tracing is also facilitated by a real‐time location system 18 patient tracker tagged to each patient and closed‐circuit television monitoring. Patients are instructed to remain seated and any patient movement within the screening centre is under strict staff supervision.…”

Section: Purpose‐built Infrastructure To Facilitate Patient Flowmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bracing for impact: operational upshots from the National Centre for Infectious Diseases Screening Centre (Singapore) during the COVID‐19 outbreak

et al. 2020

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To combat the ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic, Singapore has adopted a rigorous screening approach that involves aggressive contact tracing, rapid isolation of confirmed or suspect cases, and immediate ring‐fencing of emerging local clusters and hotspots. Our screening centre team has been involved in running Singapore's designated screening centre since the end of January this year. With a well‐defined blueprint and substantial pre‐outbreak preparatory work, initial operations at our screening centre commenced within a day on activation and full operational status was attained in 3 days. As of 8 April 2020, the screening centre had screened more than 14,000 patients. We have adopted a “whole‐of‐hospital” approach, enlisting the help from other departments and subspecialties to augment manpower. Meticulous infrastructure planning to facilitate patient flow and strict measures to prevent nosocomial transmission and occupational exposure were instituted to safeguard both the staff and patients. This paper aims to describe our key takeaways in the course of operations and discuss the challenges encountered.

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“…As the forefront of the efforts in Singapore, the NCID SC operations required secondment of TTSH staff, with urologists among those deployed. The SC assesses patients in terms of travel or contact history [9], respiratory symptoms, fever, suspected or confirmed COVID-19 status, and primary health care referrals. Emergency physicians oversee operations in consultation with infectious disease physicians.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stepping Forward: Urologists’ Efforts During the COVID-19 Outbreak in Singapore

et al. 2020

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Escalation of the alert level mandated cessation of interhospital staff movement, with residents who were rotating in other hospitals remaining there indefinitely. Undergraduate E U R O P E A N U R O L O G Y X X X ( 2 0 1 9 ) X X X -X X X a v a i l a b l e a t w w w . s c i e n c e d i r e c t . c o m j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w . e u r o p e a n u r o l o g y . c o m EURURO-8746; No. of Pages 2

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Contact tracing with a real-time location system: A case study of increasing relative effectiveness in an emergency department

Abstract: RTLS doubled the potential pertussis exposures beyond EMR-based contact identification. Thus, RTLS may be a valuable addition to the practice of contact tracing and infectious disease monitoring.

Cited by 35 publications

References 21 publications

Performance of Digital Contact Tracing Tools for COVID-19 Response in Singapore: Cross-Sectional Study

Performance of Digital Contact Tracing Tools for COVID-19 Response in Singapore: Cross-Sectional Study

Bracing for impact: operational upshots from the National Centre for Infectious Diseases Screening Centre (Singapore) during the COVID‐19 outbreak

Stepping Forward: Urologists’ Efforts During the COVID-19 Outbreak in Singapore

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