The UNC Health Respiratory Diagnostic Center (RDC) opened last month with a drive through Quick Treat and Care and Treat unit to monitor and screen patients with respiratory symptoms that may be associated with coronavirus. Led by David Wohl, MD, professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases, the RDC is enabling clinics to continue to safely serve patients at the UNC Ambulatory Care Center (ACC), while routing people with COVID-19 symptoms to the right services.
Christine Gladman, MD, MPH, medical director of the UNC Internal Medicine Clinic and assistant professor in the division of general medicine, says providers are seeing 20 or more people a day at the Care and Treat, a mix of internal medicine patients and other patients in the UNC Health system. The separate location for suspected or known COVID positive patients protects non-COVID clinic patients.
“When someone calls the ACC clinic not feeling well, or feeling worse, there’s an option for patients with symptoms that doesn’t impact other patients,” Gladman said.
Sometimes it can be difficult to know if symptoms are COVID or something else. In these cases, on demand consultation with a specialty provider is available, an effort Gladman coordinated, soliciting medical directors for contact points within each division of the department of medicine.
“A patient we had seen previously, who had been diagnosed with the coronavirus, came to us with new GI symptoms. We didn’t know if the symptoms were virus related, but we were able to quickly consult with a ID specialist and work together on a plan before the patient left the RDC. Otherwise, we would have had to send a message to a specialist, await a response, and then call the patient back, which could have meant a delay in care.”
Gladman also says that everyone agrees–wearing N95 masks day after day, donning and doffing PPE over and over, is tiring. Still, working alongside colleagues allows them all to find moments of satisfaction that are gratifying.
“During this time of keeping physical distance, we are also socially distanced. But this work still allows us to do a physical exam, to talk to a patient face to face, when the rest of the time we’re doing video or phone appointments where we miss the physical touch.”
Other general internal medicine providers working at the RDC Care and Treat include Paul Chelminski, MD, MPH, FACP, Hannah Coletti, MD, MPH, Russell Coletti, MD, MPH, Darren DeWalt, MD, MPH, Cindy Feltner, MD, MPH, Karen Kimel-Scott, MD, Louise King, MD, Shana Ratner, MD, FACP, and Claire West, MD.