STEP 4

Ensure staff complete required trainings

As a result of the continued prevalence of COVID-19 infections across the country and expanded state and federal testing mandates, the Testing Task Force asks for your help in ensuring we can support all sites that need testing. Therefore, we ask that sites complete all training requirements within 2 weeks in order to begin testing as soon as possible. If you anticipate obstacles in completing the training requirements listed below within 2 weeks, please respond to this email indicating what those barriers are.

The BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag Card test can be supervised and conducted by trained personnel including administrators. The Binax Lead is responsible for ensuring that staff / volunteers receive training in the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), performance of the test they are using, and state and federal requirements, including privacy laws. All testing personnel must complete all trainings in the training guide. Please refer to Appendix F for full list of trainings .

The observation of self-collection is not listed in the scope of practice for any California licensed healthcare professionals and is not regulated under current law. However, the CDC has published Interim Guidelines for Collecting, Handling, and Testing Clinical Specimens for COVID-19 (this website). Any trained staff member can supervise the self-collection. Because testing needs to be performed soon after swabbing, nasal swab self-collection should be done on site.

For confirmatory PCR testing, collection sites must have staff on hand to oversee test administration including: registering participants on the state’s IT platform, collecting samples (monitoring or administering), and preparing samples for shipment to the lab. Staff requirements will vary based on size.

Complete virtual hands-on training and competency quiz

For organizations using the state’s CLIA waiver and Ordering Physician, all staff who will administer tests are required to complete virtual hands-on training with the CDPH training group. This training can only be completed after receiving antigen tests. However, the training must be completed before a site is authorized to begin testing. CDPH will provide instructions on attending training once an organization’s application has been approved.

CDPH offers hands-on training multiple times throughout the week. Each training runs for 1-2 hours and is split into two sections: the first section reviews the BinaxNOW antigen test process and the optional second section covers how to use the state’s contracted IT platform, Primary. The weekly training schedule is as follows: 

• English language training
  • Monday at 2:00pm
  • Tuesday at 9:00am
  • Thursday at 2:00pm 
  • Thursday at 6:00pm
  • Friday at 9:00am
• Spanish language training
  • Wednesday at 2:00pm

In addition, all trained personnel must pass the competency quiz, which is immediately available to retake until passing. All staff must receive a score of 100% in order to pass.

Complete initial quality control and product inventory log

Once antigen tests are received by the site, the Binax Lead should complete the initial quality control and product inventory log and maintain within the Binax binder. In addition, for each additional future antigen tests received by the site, the log should be updated.

For organizations partnering with VBL for confirmatory PCR testing (preferred for all organizations using the state’s CLIA waiver and Ordering Physician):

Onboard to Valencia Branch Laboratory for PCR testing

If indicated in your application form that you want to use VBL for confirmatory PCR, the Testing Task Force will ship you PCR tests for confirmatory testing and onboard you to the state’s IT platform for PCR testing. This will include creating individual IT platform accounts for all staff members who will be registering participants and/or collecting or supervising the confirmatory PCR samples. Each of these staff members should create individual IT platform accounts which allows them to access the IT platform for confirmatory PCR tests. Please note, organizations will only be onboarded to VBL if they are approved and attest to their responsibilities as an antigen test site.