The number of COVID-19 patients being cared for at The University of Kansas Health System continues to drop. 22 patients are being treated for the virus, down from 25 yesterday. 10 of those patients are in the ICU, down from 11 yesterday. Doctors say this continues to reflect the number of patients being discharged and those moved from intensive care to regular patient care rooms.
“Don’t get sick waiting to get sick,” are the words of Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer at the health system. By that he’s referring to a troubling trend hospitals and doctors offices are seeing…patients afraid to come for care, worried they’ll get COVID-19. Then their small problems become big problems and require a lot more intervention.
Joining the panel to discuss that today were David Lisbon, MD, Emergency Medicine, Mark Wiley, MD, Chair of Cardiovascular Medicine and Mary Champion, MD, Ophthalmology. All three had examples of patients in their areas who waited to seek medical care for small problems, and those problems became worse. Dr. Champion described some of the signs that you need to seek immediate eye care. Dr Wiley also outlined the warning signs of heart problems that mean you need to be seen immediately. Dr. Lisbon says at one point in the COVID-19 crisis, the emergency department had half as many patients as normal each day but says that’s starting to change. He says the hospital and the clinics are the safest places in the city because of all the precautions and new procedures in place. He also said patients do NOT need to call ahead when coming the emergency department. He explained that the staff are experts at deciding if a patient might have the virus and needs to be treated in a separate area.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of infection prevention and control at The University of Kansas Health System says patient and staff safety has been the focus since day one of the outbreak. He described many of the “high velocity changes” quickly put into place, such as universal masking of patients and staff, constant training with personal protective equipment, even more frequent hand washing and screening of both staff and patients. He also discussed changes in the outpatient lab, where many patients go after a doctor visit, that make it a much safer environment. He answered a question about whether restaurants and bars are safe as society begins a gradual reopening and addressed a national report that the Kansas City area may be a “hotspot” for COVID-19 cases. He says when society reopens, it will give the virus more people to infect, and without the personal precautions we’ve had in place, there will be a surge in patients.
Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer at the health system, says health care providers have learned a lot in the last two months, but there’s still much they don’t know about COVID-19. He says the next six to eight weeks will be crucial, as the results of some clinical trials become available, which may help in treating patients. He warns that a vaccine is still quite a way off. He says our community has an advantage over bigger cities with high population densities, but we could squander our advantage by not following the rules when society fully reopens. He added that if and when kids go back to school in the fall, society will be at more risk of spreading the disease and navigating the back-to-school process will be vital.
Thursday, May 14 at 8:00 a.m. is the next daily briefing call. The chief medical officers from three area hospitals join the discussion. Dr. Raghu Adiga from Liberty Hospital, Dr. Larry Botts from Advent Health Shawnee Mission and Dr. Mark Steele from Truman Medical Centers/University Health join Dr. Stites and Dr. Hawkinson to update COVID-19 responses at their hospitals and how we all are getting back to business … not as usual.
ATTENTION media members- procedure for calling in:
The meeting is available by Zoom, both video and by phone. To join the Zoom Meeting by video, click https://kumc-ois.zoom.us/j/7828978628
Telephone dial-in Participants:
For those without Zoom, call 1-253-215-8782, meeting ID: 782 897 8628.
The feed is also available via TVU grid. The TVU source is UoK_Health and is being made available to all.
Feel free to send questions in advance to medicalnewsnetwork@kumc.edu.
