As more and more businesses re-open their physical locations after three months of being closed, health and safety should be top of mind for management and employees. Quite simply, after having to deal with an unprecedented shutdown of nearly all activities, it’s in everyone’s best interest to avoid playing a role in continued spreading of the deadly virus.
Many tech companies have launched solutions to help businesses with distancing, air and surface disinfecting, temperature monitoring, and more, to create safe environments for workers and customers.
There’s one major factor, though, that may actually be easiest to implement, and could have the biggest positive impact on reducing spread – health monitoring. Fundamentally, it’s as simple as not allowing workers who have tested positive or are exhibiting symptoms into workplaces. It doesn’t address the asymptomatic carrier issue, but that can really only be done by testing everyone.
In the mean time, there are companies that have developed software to make it easy for businesses to monitor their employees’ health conditions as they relate to COVID-19. ChristianaCare has taken what some others have done a step further with its telehealth service, through which it provides daily monitoring of employee symptoms, testing if needed, and care for any employees who test positive. As with many of the new technology solutions that have emerged over the past few months, the program is meant to help businesses operate safe and healthy facilities and reduce stress and anxiety related to potential exposure.
“By using the Employee COVID-19 Symptom Monitoring and Testing Program, employers can take a proactive, responsible step to ensure the well-being of their workforce and be confident they are partnering with an experienced and trusted health care team that has successfully monitored patients remotely for many years through our CareVio care management program.”
Sharon Anderson, RN, BSN, MS, FACHE, chief virtual health officer, ChristianaCare and president of CareVio.
The program leverages ChristianaCare’s COVID-19 Virtual Practice and its CareVio care management program for daily bi-directional, secure text messaging.
Each day, employees get a text message with screening questions related to common COVID-19 symptoms. If they are symptom-free, employees then receive an “all clear” message allowing them to go to work. On the other hand, anyone who has developed symptoms gets a “not cleared” text, letting them know they should not go to the workplace. They should also expect a follow-up from a registered nurse from the Care Vio team.
If that nurse confirms positive symptoms, employees will be directed to see a provider – either their own PCP or one of the providers in ChristianaCare’s COVID-19 Virtual Practice via virtual visit. ChristianaCare’s doctors may then send employees to be tested and, if an infection is confirmed, CareVio will continue to monitor patients several times a day to confirm their condition is improving. If symptoms progress, CareVio will arrange for another telehealth visit with the COVID-19 Virtual Practice.
These are important steps to ensure patients who don’t require hospitalization are recovering as expected and aren’t experiencing any additional issues or complications. Importantly, it can be accomplished remotely, from the comfort of patients’ homes as the recover, and without patients having to go to care facilities and risking further spreading the virus.
Employers in five states – Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Louisiana and Arizona – are already using the ChristianaCare Employee COVID-19 program. They include construction companies, transportation businesses, healthcare facilities, and nursing homes.
“The implications for shut-downs due to COVID-19 are massive. We sought out a partnership with ChristianaCare to control the one area of risk we could control – the decision to come to work healthy. By educating our employees about the symptoms of the virus, giving them a tool to securely review potential warning signs and a confidential relationship with a nursing staff, we think we are dramatically eliminating the potential for spread of the disease. Right now, all our employees are being enrolled, and we are rolling this program out to our subcontractor base.”
Brian Di Sabatino, CEO, EDiS (a construction management firm)
Simple daily check-ins through solutions like ChristianaCare offer an easy way for businesses to keep their workplaces safe, and to keep their employees informed about workplace conditions, but also to increase awareness about the coronavirus. Awareness is the first step in employees maintaining safe practices that can help keep their colleagues and families safe.
