The number of COVID-19 patients being cared for at The University of Kansas Health System continues to drop. 15 patients are being treated for the virus, down from 18 Friday. 8 of those patients are in the ICU, down from 9 on Friday. Doctors are pleased, since the number of patients was in the 30’s a couple of weeks ago. They caution, however, that we should not take this as a sign the virus has been defeated and let our social responsibility guard down. They say the real key will be what the numbers look like around the first of June, which will take into account society beginning to reopen now.
Robert Simari, MD, Executive Vice Chancellor of the University of Kansas Medical Center and Michael Kennedy, MD, Associate Dean Rural Health – Professor and Assoc. Dean of Rural Health joined the panel. Joining by phone were two brand new doctors, Rebecca Ferguson, MD, and Anastasia Koptelova. They are two of the more than fifty medical students from KU Medical Center who graduated early and volunteered to deploy to smaller Kansas communities needing support in caring for COVID-19 patients.
Doctors Ferguson and Koptelova described their duties, which included helping small county health departments, contact tracing, administering tests to potential COVID-19 patients and clinical care. They are grateful the medical school was able to provide such a hands-on experience that most of their peers across the country didn’t get. They also described their virtual graduation and said while not what they’d always pictured it would be like, was still a very special experience.
Dr. Kennedy explained how he and a team from the medical school took advantage of a provision in the Kansas Board of Healing arts that allowed the special permits needed for the fifty-plus early graduates to practice medicine. He says new doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists put in nearly 700 volunteer hours. He also thanked the Patterson Family Foundation for providing the funding for this program.
Dr. Simari explained the schools are now working on ways to repopulate the Kansas City, Kansas Campus, getting researchers back to labs and students back to classrooms. He says the real challenge will be what the summer and fall will look like at the school. He says they will find a way for the students to experience the unique KU tradition of walking down the hill on graduation day.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of infection prevention and control at The University of Kansas Health System, said now that beauty salons and barber shops are allowed to reopen, getting your hair cut or styled is safe, as long as both you and the stylist follow strict safety procedures. Those include both stylist and customer wearing a mask, wiping down and sanitizing the chair and tools between customers, using a new cape for each customer and hand sanitizing. He also addressed the question of whether choir practice is safe and whether leaving your mask on the dashboard of the car to get the sun’s UV rays is effective. He says most people are not using the medical grade masks found in hospitals and clinics, and it’s best to have several and keep them clean.
Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer at the health system, went for takeout food over the weekend to a restaurant newly reopened for inside dining. He was dismayed to see no social distancing and very few masks among those dining in. He did get a haircut and felt the procedures put in place at his salon were safe. He also said antibody testing is not ready for mass use yet. He says the results are becoming more accurate, but still not at the level needed for FDA approval. He’s hopeful that will be soon.
Tuesday, May 19 at 8:00 a.m. is the next daily briefing call. Stay-at- home orders have lifted … now what? David Wild, VP of Performance Improvement at the University of Kansas Health System MD, Lee Norman, MD, Secretary of the KDHE and Edward Ellerbeck, MD, MPH, Chair Population Health together with Dr. Stites and Dr. Hawkinson critique how well public health measures are being followed and the impact on health care.
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