StemCell Therapy

Driving into work, I (Perry Jameson) no longer get the cherished 30-40 minute conversation with my wife alone without four children involved. For the past week, every morning from 8-8:30, Dr. Henri Biannucci and I are on a 30-60 minute conference call with our management team discussing the ever-changing landscape of COVID-19.

Now, we not only have to worry about treating our animal patients but also how we prevent our staff from contracting COVID-19. Since so many of our team are younger (20-30 years of age), they may be positive and not even know, thus exposing a pet parent unknowingly. How do we meet our social responsibility to do our part in blunting the spread of this disease while at the same time treating ill patients?

I spoke with the governors office yesterday and, while I did not get to speak with him, the women I did talk to felt we would be deemed an essential business should he decide to restrict which businesses remain open. That reassured me, as all I could think about if we were required to close was of a family with a pet having a life-threatening emergency and nowhere to go. This is not like a hurricane where we could send them to Columbia or Greenville, as those locations could be closed as well.

We also use the same medical supplies and personal protective equipment as those in human medicine. How do we conserve these resources in case our colleagues in hospitals for humans need them but still practice veterinary medicine the best we can?

Over the past week, our hospitals have adapted to try to accomplish all of those goals. Every day, we modify them to meet new changes and in ways we find that better serve our patients. Most of the other veterinarians in town have adopted similar policies.

We have dramatically decreased our case load. If a pet is healthy but has had some abnormal laboratory values for several months, they are safe to wait several weeks to be seen. Elective surgeries can wait. This strategy both lessens the number of people exposed to each other while also decreasing the medical supplies we use.

When a patient cannot wait, we have instituted new policies to prevent exposure. The first step is asking the following questions before any interactions occur. This is awkward for us as we are not used to asking humans about their own symptoms:

If they answer yes to any of these, we are more aggressive with our personal protective equipment. If no, we still wear a mask and gloves but no gown in order to preserve these.

Mom and Dad wait in the car while the patient is brought inside and examined. All communications are over the phone, and the parents are never allowed in the building. We email all discharge instructions so as not to exchange paperwork.

The most uncomfortable aspect is not allowing clients inside to use the restroom. Many of our patients come from several hours away to be seen. To accommodate this need but prevent exposure, we have placed portable toilets outside all three of our hospitals.

Every time we treat a patient with chemotherapy, we have to protect ourselves from being exposed to these agents. There are multiple steps taken, from a special negative vacuum hood, special devices to prevent any material from leaking when removing from the bottle, and dressing in personal protective equipment. Part of the equipment is the N95 mask, which will not only prevent you from inhaling chemotherapy agents but viruses as well.

One of our oncologists, Dr. Kathryn Taylor, was concerned whether we should be using the N95 masks while they are running out of them in human medicine. After calculating the number we had and by being more efficient with their use, she found we had enough to last several months. She has been in contact with a nurse to see if her hospital needs them.

As veterinarians, we are trying to do our jobs of treating your sick pets but to also do our part in reducing the spread of COVID-19 and save critical medical supplies for potential human use.

You can help us by being patient with the social distancing strategies we have put into place and seeking care only when necessary.

Read more from the original source:
Pet Docs: Meeting our patient and social responsibilities in the time of COVID-19 - Charleston Post Courier

This entry was posted on March 28, 2020 at 7:46 am and is filed under Veterinary Medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |