As of Tuesday, July 18, 2023, most COVID-19 testing performed in the microbiology laboratory will be simplified and consolidated under one existing order, “Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Viral Panel” [LAB8978]. Most order entry questions will be removed, save custom prompts warning against repeat testing, if a recent result already exists for a particular patient.

Orders that previously served a secondary purpose (e.g. the “asymptomatic screen” order) have been converted to this order. Order sets that utilized these orders have been updated to point to the new order. Various nursing and clinic protocols referencing the retired orders have been updated as well.

This change does not impact point of care testing on the Abbott platform or the respiratory viral panel, which includes COVID-19 testing.

Questions specifically related to this issue can be directed to Bradley Ford, MD, PhD, Medical Director of Clinical Microbiology; (ext. 6-2990, bradley-ford@uiowa.edu; *8290).