New handheld technology being used at Peterborough’s drive-thru COVID-19 testing centre aims to improve the quality and performance of testing for patients and labs.
According to Peterborough Regional Health Centre, the drive-thru clinic is the first in Ontario to implement the devices which digitize COVID-19 lab requisitions.
The devices were first used on Sept. 2 at the clinic at the Kinsmen Civic Centre and continue to be used since the clinic relocated to the Northcrest Arena parking lot on Tuesday.
In the first five days of use, the handheld devices scanned health cards, driver’s licences and related identification of 1,523 people, the hospital noted.
The project is a partnership between Ontario Health, Peterborough County/City Paramedics, PRHC, Peterborough Public Health and the City of Peterborough.
The hospital says devices will lead to more complete and “higher-quality” data when capturing patient information and lead to faster processing and easier matching of the requisition to the test.
The devices will also mean more legible requisitions, making it “easier for laboratory staff to process each test,” the hospital stated.
The drive-thru clinic is held weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. People are advised to bring their Ontario Health Card and driver’s licence. Test results can be accessed on the province’s online portal or by calling your healthcare provider.
As of Wednesday evening, there was just one active case in Peterborough Public Health’s jurisdiction. There have been 106 cases overall.