The Tennessee Department of Health has reached out to the Milligan University Physician Assistant Program to help conduct a research project regarding the accuracy of COVID-19 rapid test results. This study began in October, and Milligan is the only school invited to participate in this public health initiative.
The primary objective of this project is to determine whether rapid testing patients is as effective as the COVID-19 tests that take 48 hours to develop. Rapid tests are designed to get results in 15 minutes. If the research proves that rapid tests are equally as effective as longer tests, this could significantly reduce the amount of time people have to isolate and increase the amount of identified asymptomatic cases.
Milligan students have the opportunity to take part in this groundbreaking study. The PA Program is recruiting members of the Milligan community to receive a rapid COVID-19 test to help gather information for the research project. Any student that has not tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 90 days can be a part of the study.
The PA students will be administering tests in the Gregory Center parking lot Feb. 23-24. They hope to test up to 60 students.
Associate professor of physician assistant studies, Maureen Knechtel, explained the significance of Milligan’s participation in this study.
“We are very excited to be a part of something like this because it will truly influence the way COVID testing is done on a day to day basis,” said Knechtel.“This is actual real life research that is being conducted on our campus that could identify the spread of this illness.”
The PA department is in need of student volunteers for the study. If you are interested in being a part of this study, you can sign up online on the Milligan website. Also, in the coming weeks, PA students will be in the SUB recruiting and informing students about the project.
For information and updates on Milligan’s coronavirus response, click here.
Headline photo: Photo by Polina Tankilevitch from Pexels.