COVID Testing Protocols

COVID Testing Parameters

At Monadnock Community Hospital, the safety of our patients and employees is our top priority. The following outlines our protocols regarding screening and testing of patients and employees.

Employees

Daily, all employees are screened for symptoms, temperature, exposure and travel upon reporting to work. Employees who exhibit symptoms are instructed to return to their car and call the MCH Employee Health Department for further direction.
While on the MCH Campus and at all satellite offices, all employees continuously wear the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as guided by the CDC and NH DHHS. PPE includes masks, eye protection, gowns, gloves, etc. In addition, all employees adhere to proper hand hygiene.
In accordance with CDC and NH DHHS guidelines, employees are not routinely tested for COVID-19 unless they are symptomatic or have a clinician’s order.
Employees can request a COVID-19 test from Employee Health or their PCP. A clinician will determine if a test is appropriate, based on symptoms, exposure, and risk factors. With a clinician’s order, the specimen collection is done on our campus and sent to an outside lab for processing and results.
According to the NH Hospital Association, no NH hospitals are routinely testing employees without cause. Only NH Nursing Rehab and Long Term Care facilities are mandated to routinely test staff due to the high risk population they serve.
Employees with a positive COVID-19 test result are contacted by the State of NH. The State performs the contact tracing in conjunction with the hospital’s employee health department and the State identifies and follows up with individuals who may have been exposed. The telephone number at the DHHS is 1-866-444-4211.

Patients

Daily, all patients and visitors are screened for symptoms, temperature, exposure and travel.
All surgical patients are tested approximately 5 days prior to having surgery and asked to self isolate until their procedure.
All patients admitted to the hospital have a rapid test (1-2 hour turnaround time) prior to admission. The rapid test is given in the Emergency Department.
Patients with symptoms should call their PCP for evaluation. If a test is appropriate, the patient is directed to MCH’s testing location on our campus.
Patients with a positive COVID-19 test result are contacted by the State of NH. The State performs the contact tracing in conjunction with the hospital’s employee health department and the State identifies and follows up with individuals who may have been exposed. The telephone number at the DHHS is 1-866-444-4211.

MCH is not designated a COVID Community Testing site. A map of community based testing sites is maintained by NH DHHS and can be found here.

WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 31777 [post_author] => 2 [post_date] => 2020-10-21 15:07:17 [post_date_gmt] => 2020-10-21 19:07:17 [post_content] => [post_title] => COVID Testing Protocols [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => covid-testing-protocols [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2023-11-15 18:49:20 [post_modified_gmt] => 2023-11-15 23:49:20 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 29599 [guid] => https://monadnockcommunityhospital.com/?page_id=31777 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => page [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )

Array ( [_edit_lock] => Array ( [0] => 1701023671:9192204 ) [_edit_last] => Array ( [0] => 9192204 ) [_wp_page_template] => Array ( [0] => default ) [page_sections_0_hero_slider] => Array ( [0] => 1 ) [_page_sections_0_hero_slider] => Array ( [0] => field_5af4ae4adb200 ) [page_sections_0_slides_0_image] => Array ( [0] => ) [_page_sections_0_slides_0_image] => Array ( [0] => field_5a78758cc05ab ) [page_sections_0_slides_0_title] => Array ( [0] => COVID Testing Protocols ) [_page_sections_0_slides_0_title] => Array ( [0] => field_5a7875bac05ac ) [page_sections_0_slides_0_text] => Array ( [0] => ) [_page_sections_0_slides_0_text] => Array ( [0] => field_5a7875cac05ad ) [page_sections_0_slides_0_actions] => Array ( [0] => ) [_page_sections_0_slides_0_actions] => Array ( [0] => field_5a7875dcc05ae ) [page_sections_0_slides] => Array ( [0] => 1 ) [_page_sections_0_slides] => Array ( [0] => field_5af4aeaadb201 ) [page_sections_1_section_title] => Array ( [0] => COVID Testing Parameters ) [_page_sections_1_section_title] => Array ( [0] => field_5ada5134d3021 ) [page_sections_1_wysiwyg] => Array ( [0] =>

At Monadnock Community Hospital, the safety of our patients and employees is our top priority. The following outlines our protocols regarding screening and testing of patients and employees.

Employees

Daily, all employees are screened for symptoms, temperature, exposure and travel upon reporting to work. Employees who exhibit symptoms are instructed to return to their car and call the MCH Employee Health Department for further direction.
While on the MCH Campus and at all satellite offices, all employees continuously wear the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as guided by the CDC and NH DHHS. PPE includes masks, eye protection, gowns, gloves, etc. In addition, all employees adhere to proper hand hygiene.
In accordance with CDC and NH DHHS guidelines, employees are not routinely tested for COVID-19 unless they are symptomatic or have a clinician’s order.
Employees can request a COVID-19 test from Employee Health or their PCP. A clinician will determine if a test is appropriate, based on symptoms, exposure, and risk factors. With a clinician’s order, the specimen collection is done on our campus and sent to an outside lab for processing and results.
According to the NH Hospital Association, no NH hospitals are routinely testing employees without cause. Only NH Nursing Rehab and Long Term Care facilities are mandated to routinely test staff due to the high risk population they serve.
Employees with a positive COVID-19 test result are contacted by the State of NH. The State performs the contact tracing in conjunction with the hospital’s employee health department and the State identifies and follows up with individuals who may have been exposed. The telephone number at the DHHS is 1-866-444-4211.

Patients

Daily, all patients and visitors are screened for symptoms, temperature, exposure and travel.
All surgical patients are tested approximately 5 days prior to having surgery and asked to self isolate until their procedure.
All patients admitted to the hospital have a rapid test (1-2 hour turnaround time) prior to admission. The rapid test is given in the Emergency Department.
Patients with symptoms should call their PCP for evaluation. If a test is appropriate, the patient is directed to MCH’s testing location on our campus.
Patients with a positive COVID-19 test result are contacted by the State of NH. The State performs the contact tracing in conjunction with the hospital’s employee health department and the State identifies and follows up with individuals who may have been exposed. The telephone number at the DHHS is 1-866-444-4211.

MCH is not designated a COVID Community Testing site. A map of community based testing sites is maintained by NH DHHS and can be found here. ) [_page_sections_1_wysiwyg] => Array ( [0] => field_5a79c5dfc5cca ) [page_sections_1_width] => Array ( [0] => normal ) [_page_sections_1_width] => Array ( [0] => field_5af99fbbc9de1 ) [page_sections] => Array ( [0] => a:2:{i:0;s:4:"hero";i:1;s:7:"wysiwyg";} ) [_page_sections] => Array ( [0] => field_5a74c7ee071c2 ) [show_sidebar] => Array ( [0] => 0 ) [_show_sidebar] => Array ( [0] => field_5b1ac5448389b ) [custom_sidebar_heading] => Array ( [0] => ) [_custom_sidebar_heading] => Array ( [0] => field_5e99d7c29366b ) [_yoast_wpseo_title] => Array ( [0] => %%title%% %%sep%% %%sitename%% ) [_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes] => Array ( [0] => 0 ) [_yoast_wpseo_wordproof_timestamp] => Array ( [0] => ) )