Play PodcastPlay Download PodcastDownload

Transcription:

Prakash Chandran (Host):  This Healthy Conversations COVID-19 podcast was recorded on December 15th, 2020. As the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve, Tenet Health is taking every precaution to keep you, your family, the staff, and the community safe while they provide care. We're going to talk about it today with Mark Lisa, the Chief Executive Officer at Tenet Health Central Coast.

This is Healthy Conversations, the podcast from Tenet Health Central Coast. I'm Prakash Chandran. So, Mark, it is great to have you here today; with the increase in COVID-19 cases, causing the stay at home orders, I think there's a lot of apprehension around if the hospital is safe and if the hospitals can safely take patients. So, can you maybe put our concerns at ease and answer that question?

Mark Lisa, FACHE (Guest): HI Prakash, thanks for the kind words. And I need to give you an emphatic yes on that answer. In addition to the specific precautions that we've taken all along pre and during the pandemic, we are open for business. Our emergency rooms, our ORs, our procedure rooms, and all of our inpatient nursing units are open and caring for patients. We've been doing this all along and we have all of the precautions in place, the training, the PPE and so forth. And we can go over those later on in the podcast.

Host: Yeah, that's fantastic to hear. Still though, there are going to be people that, for example, need to come into the hospital that don't have COVID that maybe are a little bit scared that they will contract it because you do service COVID patients. So, how do Tenet Hospitals keep non COVID patients safe?

Mark: That's a great question. Especially since that, we need to be well aware of our patients emotional and mental wellbeing, as well as their physical health and wellbeing. So, since the beginning, we have divided our hospitals up into COVID-safe and COVID-care zones. They're divided by physical barriers, signage, and also the staff that work in the COVID areas are specifically trained. We have adequate supplies of personal protective equipment, the masks, the gloves, the shields, the gowns. So, we are ready. We've always been prepared. We have limited visiting hours. We limit the number of visitors for each patient and that's to keep not only our patients and their fellow patients safe, but also the visitors, the staff and everybody else that interacts with our hospitals. We have strict universal mask protocols. So, if you're in the building, even if you're in a break room or a meeting room, everywhere, you need to be wearing a mask. We have strict hand sanitizing, hand washing precautions that we've always had, quite frankly, and we practice social distancing among the staff and the physicians. So we are hyper-focused on safety, not only for us as caregivers, but also for our patients and their families. You know, we still need to practice the Hippocratic oath of doing no harm. And we're taking that to the nth degree wherever we can in our hospitals.

Host: Let's say you're admitting patients and they are not exhibitingCOVID-19 symptoms. Maybe they're coming in for a completely different reason. Are all patients being tested or screened for COVID?

Mark: Patients, prior to admission to the hospital, prior to a procedure or a surgical procedure, we are testing or mandating that our patients be tested and that's an extra layer of precaution. With regard to our surgical services and the procedure rooms, the surgeons, the anesthesiologists and hospital leaders, typically the nursing leaders of that unit or that department will get together and assess the risk of each patient, assess the risk of these procedures to make sure that, we have the precautions in place, that we are not excessively taking risks and really, we haven't come up with too many things where we've had to deny or say no. In fact, we are encouraging people to use our ORs, to come in for their procedures when scheduled and keep in mind, our Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center is the only trauma center for San Luis County. So, especially important as we keep doing the trauma procedures, trauma surgeries. Sometimes we can't test those patients. So, our heightened level of risk awareness is in place 24/7, 365.

Host: Yeah. I was just going to ask you about if it's safe to have surgery at a Tenet Hospital, but you kind of answered it in that the team assesses the procedure, it assesses the patient just to make sure that you can minimize the risk as much as possible. Is there anything else that you would like to share with our audience as it relates to having surgery at a Tenet Hospital?

Mark: It's been true even before the pandemic and it will always be true in hospitals and in our hospitals, we have a high degree of scrutiny. Both hospitals have infection prevention professionals on our staff and those infection prevention professionals not only do they do inspections and surveys on a daily basis, they help with training of staff and they make sure that we are ready at all times.

And this includes the physicians. During our medical staff meetings and there are specific committees of the medical staff too, that look at infection prevention, at safety, at quality. So, this is not what we are doing at this time, Prakash, but this is something that is a part of who we are as hospital operators.

We're always keenly aware about our infections and how to prevent them and what precautions to take. So, I would say that there has been no decrement in the safety of our peri-operative surgical departments at our hospitals. And if you could say that we are even more safe than before; this is the time when we are more safe than before, but I will tell you that we have always had a strong regard for safety and infection prevention.

Host: One of the things that I wanted to ask you about is we're currently in this time where cases are spiking, there's the stay at home orders and outside of surgery, people may need to come in for regular screenings or checkups that they're going to delay because they're scared about coming in. What might you say to them?

Mark: Let  me use myself as an example. I'll put it out there. I'm almost 60 years old. So, I am coming up on needing a colonoscopy, a screening colonoscopy. I'm not going to delay that. There's no way you could get me to delay that. And my doctor agrees with that and I'm going to go get the colonoscopy that I need. Nobody should delay care out of fear of COVID or fear of the pandemic. We are very concerned about our citizens that may make a choice to delay regular or diagnostic screenings or care. We are worried that maybe in 2021 or beyond, we might see an increased incidents of cancers, other chronic conditions or maybe even acute conditions caused by failure to catch something early.

So, I would say, number one, if you were going to get a screening or diagnostic exam anyway, and in normal times, if you, this is something that a person would do, they should treat this like normal times and still seek that out. Sure, they can have a conversation with their doctor. Sure, they can call ahead to the hospital if they're really concerned.

But with the aforementioned precautions that we spent some time talking about, there is no reason anybody should be scared to come in for a screening exam, a diagnostic exam, or even a procedure. And that extends out to our ERs. And I think you're going to ask me a question about our ER safety as well. But I will tell you and let me make an emphatic plea with the listeners of this podcast. Please, ladies and gentlemen, do not delay care, do not delay your physical exams or any screening or diagnostic procedures otherwise. It's extremely important you maintain your physical as well as your emotional and mental health.

Host: Yeah, because the reality is, as you're mentioning chronic diseases, worsening symptoms and emergencies, they don't stop for COVID-19 and neither can your treatment. So, it's important to be vigilant and come into the hospital. And it really sounds like now more than ever, it's extraordinarily safe to do, wouldn't you say?

Mark: It is extraordinarily safe. And we can't emphasize enough. Ladies and gentlemen, please don't delay care. You need to take care of yourselves and to be honest with you in the audience, we have seen a few cases of folks presenting to our emergency rooms, where they did delay care because they were scared. They had a chest pain or maybe a neurodeficit that they didn't pay attention to early on. And keep in mind some of these things require attention within hours, if not minutes, especially anything neurological, stroke-related. If somebody has chest pain, certainly they should be calling 9-1-1 and getting to an ER, regardless of where that ER is. So please, nobody should delay care out of fear of COVID or the pandemic. We are super safe and ready for all comers right now.

Host: Absolutely. And Mark, you mentioned the emergency room a couple of times. I think that people sometimes believe that it is separate from all of the precautions that you're taking within the hospital, because in the emergency department, things are more high paced. Things are more unpredictable. So, can you speak specifically to the procedures or precautions that you are taking when it comes to the emergency room?

Mark: Yeah, absolutely a good point. Essentially, we're a rural county here on the central coast. San Luis Obispo County stretches from the beaches over to the Chorizo Plain. And then, down towards the Santa Barbara County, all the way up to the rural, the oil fields up towards King City and Monterey County. So, we're spread out as a county and it takes a while for some folks to get to the ER. And we have a good EMS system, but really what we did early on was we resolved ourselves to the fact that, we need to help people figure out how to keep contact with the ERs and how to continue to access emergency care when they need it.

But at the same time, be respectful of that potential for fear or added stress either with the travel or, the waiting that may come in the ERs as they wait to get care. So, we were among the first two hospitals in the nation to develop a bonafide Tele Emergency Room visit functionality, and we do this through, there's a specific zoom application. And what people can do is they can go on our This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. That's tenethealthcentralcoast.com. Or they can dial area code 805-546-7990, 805-546-7990. When they call or when they go to our website, they are connected to an emergency triage nurse.

And this is a trained professional on our team who can then help the patient determine whether or not they need to call 9-1-1 and get in here right away, or if not, they can connect the person, there's a scheduling mechanism that we do. They can connect the person within an hour's window, of a time to speak with one of our board certified emergency physicians.

And we only have board certified emergency physicians on our staff at our ERs at both hospitals. So, they're trained, they're also trained in this functionality and several them, they're used to it now using a zoom application to visit with a patient on the other end of the line or the iPad or their desktop or laptop computer.

In most cases it’s a $20 cost and that can be waived if it, if this results in a visit, most cases, their insurance company will provide for a reimbursement. And this is something actually that Medicare recognizes. And Medicare pays for Medicare beneficiaries to access this service.

So, we're pretty proud of it because we think this is a great service to our community. Again, we're concerned not only about people's physical health and wellbeing, but also their emotional and mental health and wellbeing. So, this is a way to keep connected with an emergency room. And I will, let me just leave everybody with this.

This is not meant to imply that people cannot or should not call 9-1-1 if they believe they're having an emergent condition our ERs either way remain open and safe and are seeing patients as we cut this podcast. There are patients in our ERs that are being cared for and treated. When you present to the hospital, if you have to come in, we're going to screen you. We're going to take your temperature. We're going to give you a mask. We're going to sanitize your hands and then we'll escort you in. And so again, this is a demonstrative effort on our part to exercise extreme precautions in terms of safety, infection prevention, and keeping everybody safe, but also our outward face to the public is that, yes, this is a safe place to access care.

Don't delay. If you'd have an emergency. Go online, tenet healthcentralcoast.com. Call the phone number (805) 546-7990. Or call 9-1-1. We are ready to treat people now.

Host: Well Mark, thank you so much for your time today. Just before we close here, I'd love to just ask you personally, how are you surviving and maintaining your sanity during this time and what really keeps you going every single day?

Mark: To maintain my sanity, I'm an avid reader, so I do that and I got a couple of them motorcycles in the stable, but also, I'm a private pilot and I have a little old Piper Cherokee that I go up and fly. And so that I can de-stress and become part of the clouds and fly around a little bit and look down at the earth and just be separate for a while.

But I read a lot and actually, with our leadership team and I, we use a lot of humor. We have a good time here regardless of the conditions. I enjoy working with the folks that I work with. I enjoy what I do. And that's a big thing. Yeah, can be intimidating. It can be scary. It can be high risk, but you know what? I love supporting the real caregivers at our hospitals, the true professionals that are laying hands on people every day or doing diagnostic studies or helping with surgeries. That's what keeps me going, is that our team of professionals inspire me and they inspire me to do my job the best I can, because my job really is a support person, helping all the others have the tools, the education and everything they need to do their jobs, which is to take care of our patients and their families. We'll all get through this together and I'm a leader. And there are three kinds of people, the people that lead, the people that follow or the people that should get the heck out of the way, and I'm going to lead and lead my teams and my organizations, because that's what I believe in. And that's why I'm here.

Host: Well Mark, I think that is the perfect place to end. And I really want to thank you so much for your leadership and informing all of us about all of the precautions that Tenet Health is taking to keep not only the patients, but the community safe. So, thank you so much for your time. That's Mark Lisa, Chief Executive Officer at Tenet Health Central Coast.

For more information, as Mark mentioned, go to tenethealthcentralcoast.com or call (805) 546-7990. Thanks for checking out this episode of Healthy Conversations. If you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and be sure to check out the entire podcast library at tenethealthcentralcoast.com/about/podcasts for all of the topics of interest to you.

This has been Healthy Conversations, the podcast from Tenet Health Central Coast. Thanks so much. And we'll talk next time.