Missouri School Nurses - BinaxNOW Rapid Testing

[Cattz, ADN]

Good afternoon peeps- I am just reaching out to see if there are any School Nurses on here from Missouri that will be performing the BinaxNOW Rapid tests in their schools.

I also want to hear from you if your schools didn't decide to participate and what the rationale was for that?

For those that will be doing the Testing- How are you feeling about the process, as we are preparing to start testing soon?

So thankful for the training and support that we are receiving to get ready to start the Testing process.

 

Happy Thursday Friends-

a.

 

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

I'm not a Missouri nurse, I'm in MA, but we have this testing as option. I have so. many. thoughts about it.

How is Missouri handling it? Are you running this test on symptomatic students/staff or using it for surveillance testing? (MA is symptomatic only and that is where I have the most questions, given it is an antigen test and all antigen tests in MA are supposed to be confirmed with a PCR right now.)

[Cattz, ADN]

In Missouri- The guidance we are getting is that a Positive...is considered a Positive. With no PCR required. This test is only accurate in the first 7 days that a person is symptomatic. 

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

On 10/30/2020 at 4:05 PM, Cattz said:

In Missouri- The guidance we are getting is that a Positive...is considered a Positive. With no PCR required. This test is only accurate in the first 7 days that a person is symptomatic. 

So, will you be using it for symptomatic cases only? My one thought there is how many sick kids are going to get sent to school because "the nurse can test them for COVID in her office."

[Cattz, ADN]

Yes, the guidance is clear that it is not accurate if not administered               on day 1-7 of symptoms. The statistics of accuracy when done correctly and in this time frame are incredible. So,  I will only administer for those with symptoms. I have pondered how to handle parents sending in sick kids - knowing that I have the tests available. My message to parents is going to be that we are allotted only 1 test per student/employee. Once I have tested a student, I most likely will not test them again. I am also going to require a parent to be present when I perform the test. My thinking is that if a parent has to put a little work into it also, that they will be less likely to request the test if not obviously necessary.

Employees- I will test more than once if needed.

Here is the link to the Product Documents (Package insert, Healthcare and Patient Fact Sheet, ect.)  https://www.globalpointofcare.abbott/en/product-details/navica-binaxnow-covid-19-us.html  

 

Happy Monday Friends-

?

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

This fascinates me. So, someone's writing y'all the orders to test?

And there's no chance that it could be false negative (meaning the kid with actual COVID stays when they should go?)

[Cattz, ADN]

Yes- We have a standing order through the Department of Health. There has been a great deal of work done by a team on the State level to make this happen.  

The Patient insert if very explanatory. The statistics are-(when done according to the documentation and training)- 

Sensitivity and Specificity-

False Positive Rate= 1.5%

False Negative Rate= 2.9%

Staff/Students may still need to go home until they feel better, (as would be for any illness/suspected illness), but test results help identify a course of action faster- Exclusion- etc.

There is a statewide CLIA waiver that gives all schools ability to administer this test onsite. 

 

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

GO MISSOURI! That's exceptional. Except when a parent sends a sick kid (on a bus) to be tested at school....

[Cattz, ADN]

Yes- I am so thankful for the leadership we are receiving. Our State School Nurse Consultant and her team- is AMAZING! 

We will see how it goes, I have 1 more training this afternoon and will be ready to roll.  ?

 

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

Please let us know how it goes!!

[Cattz, ADN]

Will do. Sounds like a new adventure. But, with that being said, I am just glad to have another tool in my toolbox. 

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

Yep, similar set up here in MA. But my thought process is my entire day will just me running COVID test after COVID test. My school doc would need to write the order (But also thinks this test is a way better surveillance tool vs symptomatic and that yes, every parent will send their sick child in to be tested and therefore "cleared.")

But I want to be wrong and am curious how it goes for you!

I am in the process of setting up a weekly surveillance PCR test using EMS to administer with a turnaround rate of 24 hours. I'm not ready to do both just yet :).