The national reference laboratory for acute respiratory infections at the Laboratoire national de santé (LNS) had developed a new training programme for healthcare professionals to enable them to participate in large-scale testing activities for SARS-CoV-2 using naso/oro-pharyngeal swabs.

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, the LNS’s department of Microbiology has put together a clinical outreach team, led by Dr Tamir Abdelrahman. The team recruited around twenty nurses, who participated in various activities including those of the LNS’s COVID-19 testing centre in Dudelange, of the COVID-19 consultation centre at Kirchberg, as well as school testing in collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MENJE). Tamir Abdelrahman explains: “The training programme was established to ensure the high standards of service provided by the team. It is run periodically for all new recruits, with regular audits for best practices. It was recently recognized as an official training programme by the Ministry of Health, and we will therefore be offering it as a certified training programme to any partner requesting it.”

The training programme was designed by Dr Trung-Nguyen Nguyen, head of the Virology service, who explains that “the department has met the requirements from health authorities published on November 3^rd, 2020. It includes a two-hour theoretical part, covering ENT anatomy and physiology as well as the microbiology aspects of SARS-CoV-2 testing, and a practical part, which lasts for hours. During this part of the course, attendees are trained to physically take samples under the supervision of a qualified and experienced health professional in our COVID-19 testing centre at Dudelange.”

Marie Leick, the department project manager who organizes the practical part of the programme, provides further details: “In order to guarantee quality training, the nasopharyngeal sampling procedure was broken down according to several themes. We emphasise the importance of respecting the rules for identity verification, confidentiality, hygiene and waste disposal, and then give a demonstration of sampling equipment and personal protective equipment.”

For more information about the training (booking …): Marie.Leick@lns.etat.lu