Tales from the Orange Zone

Let’s continue our talk about the traffic light system.

If you recall, the orange zone is next in line. And like I said, the orange zone is where things get tricky.

You start inviting patients back to the clinic. You’re getting in close contact with your patients and for longer periods.

As the green traffic light blinks and the orange comes on, you know there’s a real risk for your clinic to become a new cluster.

What can you do about it?

Towards this end, I asked some of my clients to share their stories. Tales from the orange zone, if you will.

If you’re moving onto (or are already in) the orange zone, you may find the following useful.

One client said:

“Our patients are relatively elderly people who require a skin check, BCC, or a new SCC. We ring them as they were self-isolating at home and presumably well.

“The doctor with a mask and a gown takes them to the scan room directly, performs the needed procedure, and acts as an escort. Of course, we clean up everything afterwards.

“We consider this low-risk.”

Another one, who’s in Regional Victoria, has also slid into the orange zone:

“First, we offer telehealth from within the clinic.

“If needed, we have a doctor and a nurse who offer face-to-face consultation. The treatment room contains minimal equipment, and patients come through the back door.

“Also, all staff members who are in the treatment room stay there until the shift’s up. They alert others before they go home and we’d clean up the room.

“We’re trying to lower the exposure which is why we’re limiting the duration to 10 minutes per patient.”

You might have noticed that there are a few essentials in the orange zone from their stories. If you want to make the successful transition like them, you’re going to need:

• A system that exposes the least amount of the clinic to potential disease.
• A fully-equipped staff to reduce risks: masks, gowns, etc.
• A thorough cleaning procedure for every office after every patient
• Limited consultation periods between doctor and patient

Hopefully, this will help you transition to this riskier zone safely and get ready for increased demand.

In the next post, I’ll talk about the scary red zone.

Until then,