COVID-19 GUIDELINES

At the start of each day, all staff must be afebrile. For obvious safety reasons, anyone with a fever will not be permitted to work. Staff will be spread throughout the building to encourage social distancing. All staff must wear a mask when within 6 feet proximity to one another, or anytime face-to-face with a patient. Gloves must always be worn when exchanging items with staff or patients. Frequent glove changing is required as to not cross contaminate. Gloves should be discarded as soon as the interaction has ended. After each face-to-face interaction, hands must be washed for no less than 20 seconds, with warm soapy water.

When rooming patients, please make sure all surfaces have been sanitized. This includes light switches, door handles, hand sanitizer pumps, glove boxes and chairs. Exam tables, countertops, flooring and patient monitoring tools should also be wiped down before any patient is roomed. After using any item, the used item should be cleaned immediately. Rotating the use of exam rooms will also allow time for the disinfectant to work properly. Therefore, patients should be roomed in alternating rooms. If the patient uses the facilities, cleaning of that area should occur before anyone else uses the area.

All patients must wear a mask when entering the building. We are restricting entrance to the building to patients only. Patients will be scheduled so that there should not be any lobby wait time. Once a patient arrives, they will have their temperature taken at the front desk and immediately assigned to a room. Should the patient have a temperature, they should be asked to exit the building and contact their primary care for self-isolation direction. We will encourage elderly patients, or others at high risk, to perform a telehealth visit, or as a last resort a CCM visit (when permitted by insurance). Patients are not to linger in the hallways. When waiting for discharge planning, patients should wait in the exam room until planning is ready. This will eliminate the risk of them encountering one another.