Strategy 4: Implement frequent employee communication and care
The safety and well-being of our health care workers and patients in our clinical practices is paramount. Continuing to communicate this message and developing and sharing a plan may ameliorate the obvious toll on mental and emotional well-being. Frequent and effective communication with your clinical team is vital to reinforce policies and protocols, eliminate silos, and reduce errors.
Practice communication and care with these approaches:
- Offer regular employee COVID-19 testing.
- Re-educate staff about infection control protocols to ensure buy-in.
- Communicate with staff about the plan to address staffing shortages.
- Implement regular employee team huddles that can address accomplishments, challenges, areas for improvement, and top priorities.
- Perform regular celebrations for staff appreciation.
- Address mental health and chronic stress and offer empathy and coping resources and services to staff and clinicians. This will have a valuable, long-term benefit.
Patient communication. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues and stay-at-home policies are in place, patients should be encouraged to seek medical care if they are ill or have acute or chronic conditions. Communicate regularly with patients and let them know that their safety and well-being is the top priority. Prior to in-person visits, inform them of the safety processes that are in place to protect them.
Fostering an honest clinician-patient relationship enhances communication. Despite these efforts, some patients may not be forthcoming about their COVID-19 symptoms, illness, exposure, or travel. Health care staff can be encouraged to set a tone of tolerance and compassion and treat everyone with universal precautions.
Rising to the challenges
During the coronavirus pandemic, ObGyns continue to safely care for pregnant women and also triage and treat women who require timely office care as well as emergency and cancer-related surgeries.
The COVID-19 environment rapidly changes depending on the practice location. The strategies described represent a compilation of resources from key organizations that hopefully will prove useful and can be shaped to fit your practice. Local and regional recommendations vary, and no one can predict the course of the virus.
Consider reviewing your contingency plans regularly. As we have learned over the last several months, there is a science to maintaining a COVID-SAFE environment.
Practice operations likely will change to adapt to new conditions. The pandemic has challenged us to evolve, and we have responded with new capabilities and resilience while we continue to deliver superior and compassionate care for women.
For additional strategies on how to safeguard your practice against COVID-19, see the box below. ●
Continue to: Additional strategies on how to safeguard your practice against COVID-19...