The COVID-19 pandemic caused radical changes to the daily lives of Americans and how medical practices conducted business. For a time, operations froze until procedures were put in place to ensure the safety of everyone involved.
Although vaccines are being administered, the patient-office dynamic must continue to adapt and find new solutions to these new problems. The digital sphere provides many options to help offices achieve those ends.
1. Offer Telehealth Options:
Individuals cannot pass the virus if they are not in the same location, which is why the use of telehealth to see patients exploded over the last year. It is a remote way to consult with large numbers of patients quickly. Everyone involved maintains the distance they need to stay safe while getting the information they need to make educated decisions.
This trend will likely stay popular for years to come because of the convenience it offers people who may find it too difficult to travel to an office. It also allows the medical practice to keep their physical examination rooms free for patients who most need them.
2. Use Electronic Health Records:
Making the switch to electronic health records means fewer physical copies for multiple people to handle and potentially transfer germs to each other. Limiting the number of common touchpoints between employees helps compartmentalize risk.
Electronic records are a safer way to consult with patients and do wonders for improving the efficiency of medical practices. There are often fewer administrative errors, and bottlenecks hidden within office operations are removed. Learn more about seamless NextGen EHR integration.
3. Screen Patients:
Taking reasonable precautions to prevent a sick person from entering your practice enables you to continue operating at full strength. Send your patients a checklist before their scheduled in-person appointment. Remind them of the symptoms of COVID-19 and the behavior expected of them when they are in the office.
Unfortunately, not everyone adheres to such checklists, so you should implement extra precautions within the office. When patients do appear at the office, check their temperature at the door. Separate any patients that previously had COVID-19, even if they are no longer contagious, as an added safety measure.
4. Social Distancing:
As stated above, proper precautions do not end when the patient enters your office. Even if a patient has no visible symptoms, that does not mean they are in the clear. Keeping hand sanitizer at various locations in the office will keep surfaces clean.
Compartmentalize risks by maintaining social distancing in waiting rooms and limiting contact between your employees and patients to only when necessary. Implementing text messaging directions to let patients know when they can enter is one way to accomplish both.
5. Utilize Website/Social Media:
The internet is a great way to keep your patients updated on your office status and practices. When the pandemic first hit, many offices closed entirely. If you keep active on social media, you can quickly alert your followers when you open back up.
Optimize your website to share the workload with your staff. Online scheduling helps prevent walk-ins from appearing unnecessarily. A dedicated page for frequently asked questions will give patients quick answers when employees might otherwise be unavailable.
6. Safely Speed up Discharge:
Discharging patients quickly prevents the needless overlap of multiple patients and lessens the risk of spreading the disease. Doing this in a timeline that is safe for the patient is the challenge. Rely on your experience to provide your patients with the greatest level of care possible.
You should never sacrifice quality just for the sake of seeing a greater number of patients within a small window. Closely observe patients after surgery to gauge whether it is time to discharge.
Stay Strong:
Although more vaccines are administered every day, that does not mean the world is at the finish line. New strains were discovered, potentially complicating efforts to get back to pre-pandemic habits. Medical practices will need to remain flexible in their operations and be willing to adapt accordingly.
A resilient mindset and a strong team are crucial to keeping your practice afloat. Keep morale high by implementing team-building initiatives, and your work culture might even become stronger than it was originally.
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