Patient access department employees have been receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. To avoid staffing shortfalls, leaders have been staggering shifts in case anyone who has received the vaccine experiences side effects that would keep them out of work.
There is a tendency to assume that if someone left the ED, he or she probably was not that sick. That is a dangerous assumption. For all patients who leave without being seen, the nurse manager should follow up with a call within 24 hours.
Whatever roles ambulatory surgery centers play as the COVID-19 pandemic drags on, leaders should prioritize securing supplies in the event of another worldwide supply chain disruption.
After deciding what their operating model would look like during the COVID-19 crisis, surgery center leaders had to determine appropriate staffing levels — furloughs, layoffs, or fewer hours. Additionally, administrators had to decide whether to ration precious personal protective equipment and other supplies, or loan this materiel to frontline facilities in desperate need.
