I wanted to put this out to share what we are doing in our practice and to see what others may be doing in responding to COVID-19.
We are all in this together – at least 6’ apart, but together.
Her are some of the things we are doing….
Two admin staff are set up for to working from home, with system and VOIP phone access as if they were at their work stations in the office. One is working full time from home. The second has it available when they wish to transition or circumstances require it.
– Increased cleaning/sanitizing of all touch surfaces –
– In patient care rooms, all touch surfaces between each patient.
– common areas, waiting room and doors, at least hourly sanitizing all touch surfaces
– Front office employees can only use the phone/keyboard at their station…no cross utilization.
– Front office workstations and phones are sanitized as the employee leaves for lunch as well as at the end of each work day – including chair, desk, keyboards, phones (personal cell and business phone), mice, pens, etc
– Front office staff must their wash hands entering and leaving their work stations.
– Front office staff wearing masks
– Front office equipment – copier/fax at least hourly sanitizing of the touch surfaces.
-Patient care staff are wearing N95 masks and glasses/goggles for all patient interactions.
-Patient care staff has reinforced hand washing and universal glove use.
-Patient care staff laptops are sanitized at lunch and the end of the day. Tablets are sanitized between each patient.
– All Staff – Personal electronics are sanitized at the end of each day
– All Stall – Footwear is disinfected at the end of the day and they have the recommendation to go directly home, shower, and change from work clothing.
– All Staff to remain socially distanced from each other.
– All Staff were provided a mask for each family member for personal use away from the office, when they need to get food/groceries etc.
– All Staff – continuing education as new information is available on best practices.
– All magazines, catalogs, collateral materials were removed from patient waiting room.
– Patients and 1 guest are allowed in the office – each is provided a mask to wear if they are not already wearing a mask.
– Scheduling was reduced – both by design and now demand – to only have 1 patient waiting to be seen in the waiting room per practitioner to keep proper distancing between patients.
– When appropriate, we will do curbside delivery so the patient never enters the facility.
-Placed HEPA air filters with UV sterilization in each patient care room, waiting room, and front office sufficient to recirculate air in each room multiple times an hour.
-All boxes arriving UPS/FedEx are wiped with sanitizer and left to sit for 1 day before being opened. All boxes are handled with gloves.
-Temperature checks for all staff and patients/guests with a non contact thermometer – Employees with a fever can not work. Patients with a fever are rescheduled. Guests with a fever can not remain in the office.
We are transparent and educate our patients on the steps we are taking to protect them.
If you are doing something different, please share. It might be something others can incorporate into their practices.
You may say all these steps are an over reaction. I will never know I am doing more than needed but I don’t want to discover I didn’t do enough.
Brett R. Saunders, CPO, FAAOP
