Nasal Foreign Body, an Unanticipated Complication of COVID-19 Care: A Case Report

Wyman, Michael T.; Symms, John; Viscusi, Chad

Background COVID-19 has changed the way we practice medicine. Standards of care are evolving in an effort to diagnose, manage and treat the cause of this global pandemic, as well as to protect the healthcare workforce. These practices can have unexpected and potentially dangerous consequences, particularly for patient populations with confounding factors that put them at increased risk for complications and poor outcomes. Case Report A 52-year-old previously healthy female presents with four days of nasal pain and discharge after utilizing a home collection kit in an attempt to obtain a nasopharyngeal viral sample for COVID-19 testing. Why Should an Emergency Physician be Aware of This? With treatments, policies and procedures that are rapidly evolving and often deviating from established, evidence-based, usual care in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency physicians must be cognizant of and monitor for poor outcomes and potential downstream complications, especially in underserved patient populations