COVID-19 (CORONAVIRUS DISEASE) 🦠 INFECTION Prevention & Control.
•Texas Medical Association COVID-19 Task Force•
•To ALL PATIENTS - you absolutely MUST call ahead before visiting the office if you:
1. Have a fever, cough, sore throat, or difficulty breathing!
2. You have had contact with someone with known or suspected COVID-19.
3. You live in a community with confirmed sustained community transmission of COVID-19.
4. You have traveled within the last 14 days to any locations either domestically or internationally with confirmed sustained community transmission of COVID-19.
•If patients have a routine scheduled appointment for annual well women / GYN exams or OB visits and you NOW DEVELOPED SYMPTOMS of a RESPIRATORY INFECTION (e.g., cough, sore throat, fever) on the day you are scheduled to be seen - YOU MUST CALL to RESCHEDULE your appointment.
•We are looking into offering and implementing TELEMEDICINE SERVICES for our patients, in order to establish social distancing and yet still provide our patients the care they need.
•IF a patient has a SUSPECTED CASE of COVID-19, we will call the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) and report the suspected case. Next patients should contact the Local Health Department to determine how to collect samples for testing and where to send the samples. (DSHS 3/12/2020)
•🚨 If a patient(s) is having difficulty BREATHING and it is an EMERGENCY situation, please report immediately to an emergency department (ED) and we will attempt to notify the ED IN ADVANCE of the patient showing up to the ED. (CDC 3/6/2020)
•When should a potential COVID-19 patient be told to stay at home and NOT come into a physician office:
MILDLY SYMPTOMATIC- patients may implement home care and self-isolation at home, as there is no current treatment for COVID-19. (CDC 3/10/2020)
Consider home care only if the patient:
1. Is stable enough to receive care at home;
2. Has appropriate caregivers (if necessary) available at home;
3. Has a separate bedroom where the patient can recover without sharing immediate space with others;
4. Has resources for access to food and other necessities;
5. Has access to appropriate recommended personal protective equipment (at minimum, gloves and face mask) and can adhere to the recommended precautions of home care (e.g., respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette, hygiene); and
6. Does not have household members at risk of COVID-19 infection complications • (e.g., people age 65+, pregnant women, immunocompromised individuals, or those with chronic underlying conditions such as heart, lung, or kidney conditions).