Rapid Deployment of Nasopharyngeal Test Swabs Within the US Department of Veterans Affairs

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic placed tremendous strain on people, medical supply chains, and healthcare systems. The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) had to take extraordinary efforts to protect the veterans that it serves. The goal of this project was to rapidly deploy safe and effective nasopharyngeal (NP) test swabs to enable expanded testing for COVID-19 with a US veteran population. This manuscript describes the technical steps to achieving this goal. VA had internal additive manufacturing resources for many of the common processes and materials. Once the process and material were selected, the design of the NP swab geometry for effectiveness, strength, and maximum throughput commenced. A NP swab with tip geometry that resembles thin, rounded, stacked disks was selected for the design after the clinical members of the team reviewed several iterations of prototypes. Following the ASTM D790 test, the NP swabs were examined using a 10-power digital microscope to check for micro-fractures and surface finish. Once the NP swabs passed the initial quality assurance process, the NP swabs required cleaning, sterilization, and packaging. Subsequently, each NP swab package was labeled for identification. Approximately 30,000 NP swabs were produced with around 18,000 of them made available for immediate deployment. The effort showed that additive manufacturing along with good professional practice by engineers and healthcare professionals could rapidly respond to a shortage of NP swabs. Internal additive manufacturing and other digital manufacturing technologies should be part of an overall strategy to increase the robustness of healthcare delivery in emergency situations.