The Covid is still impacting the operation of the hospital.
On the one hand, 850 patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 are still admitted to healthcare facilities every day – a number that is now falling sharply.
On the other hand, certain measures are still in force to limit the risk of transmission.
Since August 1 and the entry into force of the new legal regime, the health pass is certainly no longer imposed to enter the hospital.
On the other hand, many establishments still require patients, visitors and staff to wear a mask, as authorized by a decree published in the Official Journal on July 31.
We know it less, but some of them also require a negative PCR test for certain patients who are taken care of.
“We need to know the infectious situation of the patient”
“The performance of a test (like any other analysis or examination) may be deemed relevant or necessary by the medical and care teams to ensure the correct diagnosis, the correct care and the correct orientation of the patients.
In this context, it is a medical decision which therefore falls to the teams taking care of the patient, ”we say to the Ministry of Health.
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Several establishments have announced that they are imposing such a measure.
At the Oscar Lambret regional cancer center in Lille, "a negative PCR test of less than 72 hours is still required for patients hospitalized in surgery or medicine", regardless of their vaccination status.
Same thing for patients "needing to undergo surgery, including on an outpatient basis", at the Gustave Roussy center.
The deadline for carrying out the test is 72 hours if you are vaccinated, and 14 hours if you are not vaccinated.
At the Rothschild Foundation, “a negative PCR test of less than 48 hours remains mandatory for any hospitalization”.
At the Lille hospital center, “the PCR test must be done upstream, as was the case before, in a laboratory or in our sampling center, 24 hours before admission”.
“We need to know the infectious situation of the patient before his hospitalization”, indicated the establishment to La Voix du Nord.
What if the test is positive?
Thus, before any treatment at the hospital (whether for a surgical operation or for another reason), it is recommended to inquire with the establishment concerned to find out if a negative test is necessary.
But what if the sample in question is positive?
The medical team may decide to postpone the hospitalization or the operation, if only because of the five days of isolation (minimum).
In the case of a scheduled and non-urgent operation, it is even possible to postpone it for several weeks in order to limit the risk of postoperative complications, particularly in the respiratory system.
The recommended minimum delay was six weeks from the positive test until the beginning of January 2021, and the
French Society of Anesthesia and Resuscitation then recommended reducing this period to four weeks for vaccinated patients.
