At least two medical facilities in California are now providing drive-thru testing sites for COVID-19. But you have to make an appointment first before getting access to this health care service, the medical centers have announced.
The drive-thru service, according to the medical facilities, is only limited to sufferers with signs who have a physician's referral.
Patients stay in their cars during the drive-thru tests. The tests, according to the hospitals, would be administered via a physician, advanced practitioner, or nurse. All of whom are equipped with protecting clothing --- which includes a gown, goggles, mask, and gloves.
The sufferers also are examined for other respiration pathogens that reason influenza or related respiration diseases.
The use of the drive-thru clinics is supposed to lessen the spread of the virus in doctors' workplaces and other health care settings, according to the hospitals.
Stanford drive-thru clinic
A new Food and Drug Administration-approved research developed by Stanford Medicine researchers is being used on the drive-thru clinics. Dr. Maja Artandi, scientific director of the Express Care clinics, explained that the staff swab the affected person's inner nostrils for a sample.
The drive-thru testing carrier is being offered daily from 9 A.M. to 6 P.M. At Express Care's Hoover Pavilion area (211 Quarry Road, Palo Alto). Patients need to present identification to confirm their appointment, Artandi stated. People without an appointment will no longer be tested.
Stanford will notify sufferers of their results within 24 hours. If the outcome is positive, the patient's health practitioner will ensure the person gets appropriate care. The patient would be receiving telemedicine visits and self-quarantine for people with moderate signs to hospitalization for sufferers with severe symptoms, she stated. Artandi underscored that most of the infections are "surely benign."
Express Care, Stanford's same-day primary care program for adults and youngsters who're 6 months or older, also recently improved from eight to extra than one hundred fifty videos go to appointments every day to house patient demand and to restrict the virus' unfold, she stated.
Appointments for Express Care can be made online thru MyHealth or the MyHealth app or by calling 650-736-5211. An affected person has to a resident in California to be eligible for a video go to.
Patients can call 650-498-9000 to talk with a nurse who will assess the next step for their care. Persons who're having a medical emergency should seek emergency care, she stated.
Kaiser drive-through clinic
Kaiser Permanente's clinical center network has drive-through trying out clinics for its sufferers who have been evaluated by their Kaiser physician. Michelle Gaskill-Hames, RN of Kaiser Permanente Northern California, said the hospital will accept a drive-through appointment if the infected person meets the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's standards.
Patients who meet criteria will be despatched to a specially-geared up testing site, Hames added.
Kaiser is running with county public health departments and commercial laboratories imparting COVID-testing. Patients will return home under self-isolation while awaiting test effects, even as tracking any signs and symptoms and receiving additional instructions.
However, the hospital can't confirm the locations just yet since these are only allocated for patients who had clinical appointments. Kaiser recommends that patients time table a cellphone or video appointment via calling 866-454-8855.
