COVID-19: Fraser Health to conduct virtual admission as elective surgery resumes
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Stephanie Ip
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1 hour ago • 1 minute read
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Fraser Health will begin virtually assessing and admitting patients when elective surgeries resume later this month.
Elective surgeries were postponed earlier this spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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In a statement released Monday, Fraser Health said it’s preparing for surgeries to resume May 19, with capacity then being increased gradually over a four-week period before fully returning to pre-COVID-19 scheduling levels.
The virtual pre-admission process will help limit the number of visits and amount of time a patient is required to spend in a hospital before their procedure.
“This new model of care will … include virtual assessments, consultations and individual or group education sessions,” the health authority said.
Fraser Health will begin by reaching out to patients whose surgeries were postponed to ask if they’re comfortable rescheduling their surgery while COVID-19 is still a concern. The health authority said detailed screening and risk assessments will take place before the number of surgeries is ramped up.
Patients needing urgent, emergent and oncology-related surgeries will be prioritized, while minor procedures not needing an operating room and day surgeries that do not require overnight stays will also be rescheduled first.
Health officials also assured patients that Fraser Health is implementing additional measures to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, such as scheduling surgeries to allow for more time to conduct additional cleaning and infection control, patient assessments in the days before arriving to hospital for surgery and virtual pre-admission and video conference before surgery.
“To provide surgeries to patients as quickly as possible, Fraser Health will be back to full surgical capacity as soon as we can and will expand operating room capacity over the coming months,” the statement read. “This plan is dependent on several factors such as adequate supply of personal protective equipment, full commitment of all partners and monitoring of possible fall/winter resurgence of COVID-19.”
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