It’s been over six months since the impacts of COVID-19 were first felt. Most businesses were granted the ability to hit the theoretical pause button as they figured out how best to manage their employees' return to the office. Some have even changed their long-term plans to incorporate remote work for their workforces. However, this pause wasn’t afforded to those in essential fields - especially in healthcare.
Healthcare employees working with potentially infected COVID-19 patients are deemed essential and have never left the office. Healthcare facilities began implementing procedures and protocols for dealing with infectious diseases on the spot – all while actively caring for patients and attempting to keep the spread at bay. The precautions needed for essential healthcare workers go far beyond what we are faced with in our office environments and required immediate implementation
Clinicians working on a floor with COVID-19 patients must don gowns, face shields, gloves, and N95 or powered air purifying respirators (PAPRs). It takes up to 20 minutes to put on full PPE to visit a single patient room and after the patient visit the PPE is thrown away. Imagine the amount of time it takes for one clinician to visit 12 patients. Technology is being deployed to reduce the amount of time it takes to perform this rounding and reduce the risk of transmission to clinician and patient.
The above is just one example of how COVID-19 has impacted the healthcare system and its workers. On the latest “Return with Tech” podcast episode I am joined by two healthcare solution architects, from Sirius Computer Solutions' Healthcare Division, that are using technology to help healthcare employees work more safely and efficiently.
Listen to the full episode here or download it from your favorite podcast platform (search: "Return with Tech").