An ongoing commitment to safety for employees and patients has warranted additional measures at Sanford Health.
Knowledge of the coronavirus continues to evolve. With it, guidelines and standard practices that assure protection evolve as well.
“We’re implementing new safety measures for patient access teams to prevent exposure to COVID-19,” said Dr. Allison Suttle, Sanford Health chief medical officer. “We have significantly increased the frequency of cleanings throughout the day as well as nightly deep cleaning and disinfecting of all high-touch areas.”
Additional measures at work
Below is an outline of efforts already in place or in the works for additional protection for employees, patients and guests:
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- Tape has been placed at appropriate locations in the registration areas. Patients and visitors are asked to stand behind the tape, which creates approximately 6 feet of space for social distancing.
- Plexiglas walls are being built in all registration areas. This creates a clear safety barrier between the patient/visitor and the access employee.
- Patients are encouraged to check in online. This will minimize touching of forms.
- Sanford Heath no longer requests payments on account or copays from patients at registration but is accepting payments if requested. Use of debit/credit cards is encouraged in those situations.
- Staff members are being coached daily to wash their hands, practice social distancing and wear masks where allowed in direct care areas.
- Offering expanded virtual care options for patients to see their providers.
“The good news is that social distancing and other safety measures have slowed down the progression of the disease in most of our footprint,” Dr. Suttle said. “This has given us more time to prepare. It has been a lot of long weeks of work to get to this point, and the worst is yet to come. We are preparing every day, and we are well positioned to weather this storm.”
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Posted In COVID-19, People & Culture, Workplace Health
