robert packer hospital school of medical technology

Given the severe local and national shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as procedural masks, N95 respirators, eye protection, gowns, and gloves, we have instituted policies to help conserve these valuable resources. Visitation has been incrementally restricted to only allow visitors under exceptional circumstances.Ĭonservation of personal protective equipment Those with temperatures above a designated cutoff undergo a medical workup and are not allowed into patient areas. This transitioned to our current practice of closing all entrances except 2, where all entering individuals are required to have their temperature checked via an infrared thermometer and answer a screening questionnaire. Initially, screening occurred only in areas containing our most susceptible patients– the ICU and oncology wing. Screening was then expanded to include individuals who either had a personal travel history or had been in contact with persons who had recently travelled to China, Italy, or Iran. It began with limiting access for individuals who had recently travelled to China. This screening process evolved over time as more information about the virus became available and national recommendations changed. To better protect our patients, staff, and providers from exposure to COVID-19, our hospital implemented a screening process in early February for visitors and employees. 2 Because our population health strategies specifically address improving the health and outcomes of patients with chronic diseases in light of social determinants, the COVID-19 crisis became the biggest immediate threat to our communities. In the surrounding counties Robert Packer Hospital serves, 72.3% of patients are Medicare (55.2%) and Medicaid (17.1%), and 45.3% have a household income of $50,000 or less. Our organization employs 6,500 individuals and therefore serves as one of the largest employers in the region.Īs early as January, the leadership team at the Guthrie Clinic began surveilling the spread of COVID-19 with 1 dilemma in mind: if this hits us how will we protect our vulnerable population? As cases began emerging in our surrounding counties, our organization mobilized to protect the health of our at-risk patients.

Within our primary hospital alone, we see an average of 15,500 admissions and well over 1 million clinic visits each year. We also serve as a site of clinical rotations for trainees among a broad variety of healthcare fields, including medical students. We are home to residency programs in family, internal, and emergency medicine, pharmacy, and surgery, as well as fellowship programs in gastrointestinal and cardiovascular disease. Together, we offer a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services and perform an average of 19,000 surgical and 16,300 endoscopic procedures annually. Our other sites include Cortland Regional Medical Center, Corning Hospital, Towanda Memorial Hospital, and Troy Community Hospital. Located in Sayre, PA, Robert Packer Hospital is the primary institution within a nonprofit organization that serves the region as a level II trauma center and is home to Guthrie Air, a regional aeromedical helicopter program. Our rural, 267-bed, tertiary-care teaching hospital is the primary institution among a 5-hospital healthcare organization-the Guthrie Clinic-which serves approximately 770,000 individuals across 12 counties within the northern Pennsylvania and southern tier New York areas. Therefore, our institution has implemented a broad range of system-wide changes to curtail the spread of this outbreak and anticipate the upcoming needs of the patients we serve. Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, it is evident that perhaps we must reach dire circumstances in order to realize that population health management is truly our reality. Like many organizations, rural healthcare systems have incrementally transitioned to such a paradigm. 1 Since implementation of the Affordable Care Act (2010), we have been compelled to adopt the concept of population health and embrace responsibility for the healthcare outcomes of our respective populations. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the American healthcare industry watched from television screens thinking, “This will not reach us.” And yet, as of March 26, the US had surpassed both China and Italy in total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. For years, healthcare systems have attempted to transform themselves into highly reliable organizations.

Robert packer hospital school of medical technology