COVID-19 (commonly referred to as the novel coronavirus) has become a significant public health concern that is now impacting post-acute communities across the US.
At IntelyCare, we have been closely monitoring the news and the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine (AMDA). With those recommendations in mind, we have developed a two-pronged action plan that will mitigate the impact and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our community, and yours.
THE INTELYCARE COVID-19 ACTION PLAN
PART ONE: Coronavirus Best Practices Assessment
Each facility should ensure that their staff is up to date on the COVID-19 best practices, as outlined by the CDC. If your team is still in the process of developing your own coronavirus contingency plans, we recommend reading this CDC article – Strategies to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19 in Long-Term Care Facilities – as a great starting point.
At IntelyCare, each one of our nursing professionals (IntelyPros) will be required to pass the COVID-19 Best Practice Assessment within the IntelyCare app. This will ensure that IntelyPros are up-to-date on COVID-19 best practices when they enter your facility. This course will provide the most current COVID-19 management practices, as outlined by the CDC and AMDA.
PART TWO: Coronavirus Symptom Questionnaire
As a further precaution, each employee should report any symptoms related to coronavirus. This vigilance is especially important at skilled nursing facilities, where residents often have weakened immune systems. Every nurse or nursing assistant should be assessed daily for symptoms of the coronavirus before entering the facility.
At IntelyCare, we are taking a proactive approach to protecting our IntelyPros, our facilities, and their patients. Each of our nurses and nursing assistants will be required to take our unique COVID-19 Symptoms Questionnaire.
How it works…
- All IntelyPros will receive this questionnaire 36 hours before their shift start time. If an IntelyPro picks up a shift less than 36 hours before shift start time, they will be sent the survey upon accepting the shift.
- The survey will ask the IntelyPro if they have recently traveled to countries designated as a Level 2 or Level 3 COVID-19 alert by the CDC. They will also be asked if they have experienced a fever, cough, or shortness of breath in the last 14 days.
- IntelyPros that report experiencing symptoms consistent with COVID-19 will be removed from the shift and a member of our team will reach out immediately.
We will continuously update the questionnaire to reflect the CDC’s current list of countries designated as a Level 2 or Level 3 alert.
Due to the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, we anticipate that the CDC and AMDA will continue to update their recommendations, so our clinical team will continue to reconfigure the course and symptoms questionnaire as new best practices emerge.
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