5 Ways to Protect Your Healthcare Business During the COVID-19 Crisis
Since the beginning of the year, the country’s attention has been on the coronavirus pandemic, with over 4.9 million cases and 161,000 deaths to date. As restrictions are beginning to lift and businesses are now being allowed to operate, if you run your own healthcare facility, it’s vital that your employees and patients are kept safe and protected.
To minimize the risk of infection, here are 5 tips on how to protect your healthcare business during the COVID-19 crisis.
Have Conversations with Employees and Patients
During these unsettling times, it’s only natural that employees and patients will feel hesitant about visiting your premises. Whether you work as a physician, doctor, dental practitioner, or cosmetic surgeon, it’s vital that you keep communication lines open and ensure any worries and concerns are addressed immediately. Your employee and patient’s health and safety should be your top priority, so make sure that you provide guidance on your business website and blog.
Minimize Face-to-Face Contact
If patients come into your clinic, it’s important that you do your best to minimize face-to-face contact. There are several practices that you can implement to achieve this, such as by social distancing and installing sneeze guards that act as a barrier between you, employees, and patients. You can find out more about how sneeze guards’ work and the benefits they can bring to your healthcare business. If you are seeing patients, it’s important that you’re wearing protective covering like a face mask to minimize the risk of infection.
Wash Your Hands Regularly
When working in a healthcare setting, you should already understand the importance of washing your hands regularly. However, with the coronavirus pandemic now in full force, you need to reinforce this practice to both employees and patients. There are several things you can do in your healthcare clinics, such as providing tissues, hand sanitizer, no-touch trash cans and soap, and water which can reduce the risk of catching the virus.
Perform Routine Environmental Cleaning
No matter what kind of healthcare business you run, it’s likely that you will have workstations, tools, and equipment that are frequently used. It’s crucial that you routinely clean and disinfects surfaces regularly to reduce the risk of contracting the coronavirus. The virus can spread quickly, so make sure that your employees follow your lead and regularly perform routine environmental cleaning.
Encourage Sick Employees to Stay Home
If a member of your team falls ill at work, it’s important that they’re sent home immediately. Even if they don’t display the common symptoms of the coronavirus such as coughing and high temperature, you have other employees and patients to think about, so developing policies that encourage sick employees to stay at home is vital.
If you’re about to reopen your healthcare facility to the public, it’s vital that you follow government guidelines and procedures to ensure patients and employees are kept safe and protected. All the guidelines above are mandatory measures that you should implement to minimize the risk of anyone on your premises contracting the coronavirus.