Webinar: Importance of Flexible Respiratory Testing

Respiratory testing decisions can be impacted by patient type (immunocompromised, pediatric, pregnant, elderly), patient risk (inpatient, outpatient, travel history, geography), and time of year (incidence of different respiratory viruses). These unique attributes necessitate flexible testing algorithms to best serve varied patient populations and changing respiratory testing needs throughout the year. Additionally, streamlined workflows for respiratory testing can potentially decrease costs, hands-on time, and FTEs needed to process all samples in the laboratory.

In this webinar:

Rangaraj Selvarangan, director of the microbiology laboratory at Children's Mercy Hospital, will present clinical trial data on a recently FDA-cleared molecular test for respiratory viruses that detects and differentiates SARS-CoV-2, influenza A, influenza B, and RSV.

Jim Dunn, director of the medical microbiology and virology laboratories at Texas Children's Hospital, will review the respiratory testing algorithm used at the hospital, discussing how test ordering is modified throughout the year to accommodate seasonality, how different platforms are utilized to best serve patients, and how flexible testing platforms allow for optimal management of diagnostic stewardship.

Matthew Binnicker, medical director of the clinical virology laboratory at Mayo Clinic, will discuss the respiratory testing algorithm employed by a large reference laboratory with a diverse patient population, including a result masking strategy to accommodate different test order combinations. He will also review the 2023-2024 winter respiratory season experienced at Mayo Clinic and provide his perspective on what respiratory viral activity we might see in the year ahead.

AVD-01619-001