Reconfiguring Operations
Left to right: Pamela Stanley and Aurora Marinescu
Clinical operations leaders including Nursing Director of Radiology & Imaging Services Pamela Stanley, MSN, RN, PCCN-K, and Dr. Marta Heilbrun worked with Emory Healthcare Infection Prevention and Control to reconfigure clinical operations to protect patients and employees, leveraging Lean and EmPower principles already driving departmental care transformation. Signage and training ensured implementation of the following:
- Established protocols for sanitizing imaging equipment and facilities and for donning/doffing personal protective equipment (PPE) for all imaging modalities;
- Created rooms with negative air flow for COVID+ patients undergoing IR, neuro-IR, and CT-guided procedures with standardized protocols for PPE use and infection prevention;
- Division of Interventional Radiology Director Janice Newsome, MD, implemented cohort staffing for procedural teams to minimize virus exposure and transmission;
- Created protocols for responding to patient codes with minimal personnel and stocked supply carts with PPE for responding personnel;
- Leveraged community partnerships to acquire PPE during periods of shortage; and
- Changed from just-in-time resource acquisition to stockpiling PPE and other materials.
- Made modality screening forms available electronically to patients so they can arrive imaging-ready;
- Expanded the scheduled length of time per imaging study to minimize traffic in waiting areas and to accommodate disinfection protocols; and
- Expanded hours of operation to nights and weekends to accommodate sanitizing procedures between patients.