All around the world, there are hospitals dedicated to receiving moderate to severe cases of patients suffering from the pandemic. These hospitals must ensure that the patients are well taken care of. Hospitals need to have the right equipment and the healthcare workers need to have the right personal protective equipment so they can protect themselves.
Being in the front line is no easy task. Many healthcare workers have already ended up being victims themselves, needing care and quarantine. In this article, we’ll look at what hospitals in Qatar are doing to ensure the virus doesn’t spread within their buildings.
A Three Step Plan to Protect Employees and Patients in Qatar Hospitals
The following strategy is implemented by one of the best private hospital groups in the country: Al Emadi Hospital. It follows highest standards and the most well thought of procedures to ensure the protection of every health care worker and every COVID-19 patient that enters the hospital.
The strategy can be divided into three major parts. Let’s look into each part with a bit more detail.
First Part: On hospital administrators, staff, and employees
The following are some facts about the first part of this preventative strategy.
1. Teams are now grouped into smaller sizes.
2. Employees need to undergo sterilization before beginning their work.
3. Employees also need to have their temperature checked before work.
4. An employee whose temperature has risen slightly shall be immediately sent to the emergency department.
5. The hospital also monitors transportation of the employees from their homes to the hospital and vice versa.
6. Sick leave is now more comprehensive; now available to employees with symptoms of the disease or who think that they might be sick.
7. Employees that are sick and staying at home should remain isolated until they are capable of returning to work.
Second Part: On visitors and patients
1. Patients are strongly advised to use phone calls for appointments. Call staff will respond to the calls and answer any medical queries they might have.
2. Once a caller mentions that they have virus related symptoms, then they will be directed to a facility or even in the emergency department to receive treatment immediately.
3. Only a few gates and doors are opened in the hospital. This is to ensure that entering and exiting visitors and patients can be tracked easily, and it is easy to provide temperature checks.
4. The number of visitors a patient can have is limited.
5. Visitors can only stay for a maximum of 15 minutes obeying proper social distancing procedures.
Third part: On patients who contracted the virus
1. There are two systems for patients who are suspected of having the virus: emergency clinic and outpatient clinic.
2. There is an outpatient clinic at the ground floor, easily accessible, and is for patients who have the cold and flu like symptoms. There is also an isolation room inside.
3. Doctors are trained and well equipped to handle suspected virus-infected patients, whether at the emergency department or other areas of the hospital.
In these trying times, we should all exhibit vigilance. We should also follow the guidelines provided by the Ministry of Public Health. There are so many things we can do individually, like social distancing and wearing masks, in order to thwart this virus.