Puget Sound Gastroenterology is requiring all patients scheduled for procedures to first be tested for COVID-19.
Five things to know about the practice's screening and testing protocols:
1. Before appointments are finalized, all patients are prescreened for COVID-19 symptoms over the phone. Those with symptoms will not be seen in the office.
2. For scheduled patients without symptoms, Puget Sound Gastroenterology offers COVID-19 testing in its offices. The practice has two offices in Seattle, as well as one in Kirkland, Wash., and one in Edmonds, Wash.
3. Under nurse supervision, each patient will swab the inside of his or her nose and place the swab in a tube for testing.
4. Patients receive their results in one to three days.
5. Each day before they enter the facility, all providers and staff members are screened for COVID-19 symptoms such as fever, cough and shortness of breath.
"Teammates displaying symptoms will be asked to stay home and referred to the state department of health to be tested for COVID-19," Puget Sound Gastroenterology says on its website. "They will only be permitted to return to work if they no longer have symptoms and have tested negative for COVID-19."