Get Your Clinic Ready

Poster Specifications:

• 8.5 x 11 in
• Portrait Style
• Printed in Full Color
• Laminated with High Quality Laminate

Get Your Clinic Ready for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

A new respiratory disease—coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)—may impact your community.

Get ready! Steps you take to prepare your clinic for flu can also help protect your patients and healthcare workers from COVID-19:

Before Patients Arrive

• Prepare the clinic.
• Know which of your patients are at higher risk of adverse outcomes from COVID-19.
• Consider and plan for providing more telemedicine appointments.
• Know how to contact your health department.
• Stay connected with your health department to know about COVID-19 in your community. Step up precautions when the virus is spreading in your community.
• Assess and restock supplies now and on a regular schedule.
• Communicate with patients.
• Ask patients about symptoms during reminder calls.
• Consider rescheduling non-urgent appointments.
• Post signs at entrances and in waiting areas about prevention actions.
• Prepare the waiting area and patient rooms.
• Provide supplies—tissues, alcohol-based hand rub, soap at sinks, and trash cans.
• Place chairs 3–6 feet apart, when possible. Use barriers (like screens), if possible.
• If your office has toys, reading materials, or other communal objects, remove them or clean them regularly.

When Patients Arrive

• Place staff at the entrance to ask patients about their symptoms.
• Provide symptomatic patients with tissues or facemasks to cover mouth and nose.
• Limit non-patient visitors.
• Separate sick patients with symptoms.
• Allow patients to wait outside or in the car if they are medically able.
• Create separate spaces in waiting areas for sick and well patients.
• Place sick patients in a private room as quickly as possible.

After Patients are Assessed

• After patients leave, clean frequently touched surfaces using EPA-registered disinfectants—counters, beds, seating.
• Provide at-home care instructions to patients with respiratory symptoms. Consider telehealth options for follow up.
• Notify your health department of patients with COVID-19 symptoms.

Train and prepare your staff now

• Ensure that clinical staff know the right ways to put on, use, and take off PPE safely.
• Recognize the symptoms of COVID-19— fever, cough, shortness of breath.
• Implement procedures to quickly triage and separate sick patients.
• Emphasize hand hygiene and cough etiquette for everyone.
• Ask staff to stay home if they are sick.
• Send staff home if they develop symptoms while at work.