Health care teams turn on a dime to change care delivery and serve patients

Fairfax Family Practice

by Dr. Alex Krist

We have transformed our patient care overnight here at Fairfax Family Practice. For a week and a half now we have been:

  1. Screening people by phone before they come it for resp symptoms
  2. Screening at the front door when they show up
  3. 1st floor is resp symptoms only and all staff and clinicians are in full protection gear
  4. 4th floor is non-resp only
  5. Putting in places protocols for addressing resp symptoms (when to come in, testing for strept and flu, when to send to testing centers – not available yet)
  6. Converted 80% of visits to virtual to protect all doctors and staff
  7. Starting Monday close the office and make mostly everything virtual
  8. Small set of 1-2 doctors and nurses to see people acutely in office – after triaged virtually and need to be seen (e.g. abscess for draining)
  9. Working with Inova to create drive through testing centers at Fair Oaks and elsewhere
  10. Setting up a station to give wellchild shots only (rest of wellness to be virtual)
  11. Created a response team to manage sick patients who have been triaged to home care for close monitoring

We are preparing to consider having to staff overflow hospitals and assisting in staffing our ICUs if things get worse.

And at the same time, all the shareholders cut their pay in half so we can continue to pay all our staff full salaries and not stress them financially.

We are committed to taking care of our community and reducing the risks of coronavirus spreading.

Pediatric Associates of Richmond

Laura Duke, CPNP, IBCLCPediatric Associates of Richmond
Read More
There is no denying it, change is stressful. Here at PAR, it has brought out the best in our families and team. Families are rising to the occasion. Many are calling in for advice and self-triaging before coming to see us under the circumstances. They are switching offices and providers with very few complaints. I cannot count the number of times I have overheard a parent ask about our well being or encourage us to be safe. Our team is meeting the challenges on all fronts. Nicole Midulla, our reception and scheduling manager, with help from her team, quickly and without complaint accomplished the herculean task of moving appointments and locations on short notice. Our office staff are seamlessly adjusting to the change in flow while maintaining their pleasant demeanor on the phone. Our nurses continue to provide conscientious care while adjusting to seemingly daily changes in schedules and procedures. Our providers are continually looking for ways to improve care while supporting each other. We cannot avoid change but we can control how we respond to it.