Histopathology Laboratory Paperwork as a Potential Risk of COVID-19 Transmission among the Lab Personnel

Hasan, Abdulkarim; Nafie, Khalid; Abbadi, Osama

ABSTRACT. Background Healthcare workers have a higher risk of acquiring COVID-19 infection. The process of requesting pathology investigations is usually handled manually through the paper-based forms. We evaluated the potential of paper-based request forms to transmit COVID-19 to laboratory staff to make recommendations for dealing with hospital paperwork in a post COVID-19 world. Methods We tracked paper-based forms from time of test ordering till the release of the pathology report by calculating the time taken for the papers to reach the lab and the exposure of each staff group to the received papers from both high and moderate COVID-19 risk areas. Results Four hundred and thirty two (83%) out of 520 forms were received in the laboratory within 24 hours. The remaining 88 (17%) forms took 24 hours or more to be handled by lab personnel. The mean daily exposure time to the paperwork for various laboratory staff was as follows - receptionists: 2.7 minutes, technicians: 5.5 minutes and pathologists: 54.6 minutes. Conclusion More than 80% of the manual paper request forms will take less than 24 hours to be handled by laboratory personnel; carrying a high potential risk for viral transmission. We recommend replacing hardcopy paper-based request forms with electronic requests that could be printed in the laboratory if required. The other option would be to sterilize received papers to ensure the safety of the laboratory personnel. More studies are required to detect stability of the SARS-COV-2 on the different surfaces and the potential risk of COVID-19 transmission through papers.