Stony Brook Creates New Coronavirus Triage Site, Adds ICU Safety Protocols
Stony Brook University Hospital has created a new triage process for emergency services.
Patients who arrive at the emergency room between 11 a.m. and 11 p.m. should stay in their cars, where a member of the staff will determine the correct emergency care setting. The staff may tell patients to go to the main Emergency Department or to a new coronavirus triage service at the South P Lot testing facility on the main campus, on the corner of Stony Brook Road and South Drive. The triage area will have board-certified emergency medicine physicians and emergency medicine nurses.
Stony Brook medicine has also created a triage phone line, 631-638-1320. Registered nurses will answer calls from 8 a.m. to midnight, Monday through Friday. Nurses will direct patients to the appropriate healthcare location.
The goal of the triage service, Stony Brook said, is to provide patients with a streamlined environment for care and treatment.
Stony Brook said patients should not go to the coronavirus patient triage unless a member of the Emergency Department staff directs them there.
The main Emergency Department will remain operating as usual.
In addition, Stony Brook has established new safety procedures to reduce the amount of time that a caregiver must enter a room. The process is best suited for the Intensive Care Unit or where a patient is non-ambulatory. Stony Brook is following procedures other hospitals are also using.
IV pumps will now be located in the hall. To reach the patient, the IV pumps will use Relocatable Power Taps, which are power strips approved by Biomedical Engineering, and IV extensions sets.
The new process will eliminate the need for staff to go in the room to change IV fluids, drips or medicines or to reset alarms, which will limit exposure while interacting with people who might have coronavirus or with patients who have tested positive for COVID-19.
The tubing is standard bore and can be used for all fluids including blood.
Three sets of IV extension sets can be connected together to reach patients. IV pumps in use can be located in the hall or anteroom.
The hospital ordered 72-inch IV extension sets and will work by themselves in most cases to reach the patient.
