Establishing a molecular laboratory in COVID-19 pandemic: The experience of a regional laboratory in Spain

Autores de IDIVAL

• Zaira Moure García

  Autor

  Zaira.moure@scsalud.es

• Daniel Pablo Marcos

  Autor

  daniel.pablo@scsalud.es

• 

  Inés De Benito Población

  Autor

  ines.debenito@scsalud.es

Autores ajenos al IDIVAL

• Cuadros E
• Reina MJ
• Campo AB

Unidades

• ENFERMEDADES INFECCIOSAS Y MICROBIOLOGIA CLÍNICA

  

  Investigador Responsable

  María Del Carmen Fariñas Álvarez

  mcarmen.farinas@scsalud.es

• Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla

Abstract

The high demand for COVID-19 diagnosis overwhelmed reference hospitals. Regional laboratories had to incorporate molecular technology to respond to the emergency. This work described the imple-mentation of molecular diagnostic tools and the detection of SARS-CoV-2, in a regional hospital with no previous experience, from October 2020 to March 2022. The laboratory structure was significantly modified. The staff grew from 3 to 4 clinical microbiologists, and from 7 to 17 laboratory technicians to provide 24/7 coverage. A total of 144,442 samples were processed during the period of study. The highest peaks were reached in July 2021 with 25,285 samples processed, and between December 2021 and January 2022, with 32,245. COVID-19 pandemic has represented not only the challenge, but the opportunity to introduce Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques (NAAT) in inexperienced labora-tories. These secondary settings have shown an extraordinary ability to adapt and cannot be left behind in the progress of diagnostic techniques.

Keywords

• COVID workload; PCR; molecular diagnosis; regional laboratory; small setting