As COVID-19 cases continue to spread across the country, healthcare facilities are working diligently to put protective measures in place to ensure their staff and patients’ health and safety. This has spawned a rapid rise in telehealth appointments, where patients can consult with doctors via video conferencing. But there are still a large number of healthcare visits and procedures that need to be done in-person.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has made a number of recommendations for healthcare facilities (hospitals, long-term care facilities, surgical centers, etc.) to follow, including:

• Asking patients about symptoms, travel and possible exposure during reminder/confirmation calls before the appointment
• Limiting the number of visitors and guests
• Screening patients, visitors and staff for fever or other symptoms of infection before entering the facility
• Denying entrance to people exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms
• Limiting the number of patients in the waiting room (via social distancing, reducing the number of appointments at the same time, having patients wait outside or in their cars to be called, etc.)

DeCurtis Shield™, a scalable suite of tools focused on mitigating the risk of an outbreak, can help automate many of these safety measures, facilitating a patient’s visit “journey,” reducing staff exposure and serving as a powerful first line of defense.

DeCurtis Shield™ kiosks perform fast and accurate temperature screenings, record and store the data for record-keeping, and utilize location tracking for advanced contact tracing. Additionally, Shield™ can implement an assisted check-in feature specifically to enhance patient, visitor and employee safety in medical settings.

Easily Automate Protective Measures

The assisted check-in process for in-person appointments is as follows:

AT HOME

• The patient (or visitor) begins the on-line check-in process, chooses their arrival time and receives a confirmation email.
• Prior to their appointment, the patient is prompted to fill out a health screening questionnaire and possibly fill out or submit health forms and provide contact information in advance.

UPON ARRIVAL

• The patient arrives at the facility and stops briefly at the DeCurtis Shield™ kiosk at the entrance (which may be assisted or self-service).
• The kiosk performs temperature screening and offers other customizable options such as re-confirming health screening questions, performing facial recognition and mask detection.
• If the patient passes the screening, they can be admitted into the facility (even automatically unlocking a door) and proceed to the front desk.
• If the patient does not pass the screening, they will be rescanned, and then – if they continue to display risk factors – may be denied access to the building.

This process allows healthcare facilities of all kinds to manage occupancy, eliminate crowded waiting rooms, speed up the check-in process, perform screenings/questionnaires in advance, and perform immediate, automated screenings on-site. It also reduces the risk of exposure to employees who would otherwise administer manual screenings, as well as provides an alternative to lines of patients awaiting check-in/entrance.

A Scalable Solution

DeCurtis Shield™ is a scalable solution that can grow to meet a facility’s changing needs. With contactless monitoring, movements of employees, patients, or visitors can be traced throughout any medical facility for an added layer of 24/7 protection. For example, facilities can:

• Add proximity awareness to collect data to provide real-time staffing assistance without additional infrastructure.
• Evolve to a location-aware platform to enable retroactive timelines and track all monitored individuals to mitigate the spread of illness.

To learn more about DeCurtis Shield™, its capabilities and available options, and its new assisted check-in features, visit our website or contact us.