Hospitalist team finds a “new normal” as they continue to save lives and deliver care

Hospitalists oversee the care of all admitted medical patients at the hospital, outside of the ICU. They have been working to stay on top of the rapidly emerging research on the COVID-19 virus.

The group shares information each morning over Zoom calls which is imperative to good communication during a virus outbreak.

In the early days of the pandemic, test results for COVID-19 suspect patients took multiple days to come back, this delayed diagnosis of patients. It also increased the need to don and doff personal protective equipment as they made their rounds. Fortunately, we now have in-house rapid testing and results are known in a few hours.

COVID-19 also presented other challenges for our team of Hospitalists such as Code Blue (Cardiac Arrest) Response protocols. Normally, staff would rush to a stricken patient and begin life-saving measures immediately. Now, first responders must first put on their protective equipment in order to stay safe.

Medicine at Guelph General Hospital is a partnership between Hospitalists, specialists, nursing staff and our allied health team. The expertise and trust shared between these staff groups allowed the Hospitalists, and all staff, to be well prepared to meet the challenge of COVID-19.

It’s been a challenging change of practice for Hospitalists, but a necessary one. While we want our community members to be healthy and safe at home, should you need to be admitted to Guelph General Hospital know that our Hospitalists will take great care of you!

This story originated on Guelph General Hospital’s Facebook page on June 22nd, 2020 as part of its #behindthemask series to share how the Hospital is working hard to protect patients and visitors from #COVID19.