We Stand For Care

Doctor’s at Stanford Hospital & Clinics (SHC) are consistently MAKING A DIFFERENCE in the lives of the patients they see every day. They are always trying to find the best solution, especially when it comes to how long patients are in the waiting rooms.

So what if you could wait in your car for a drive-thru medical clinic? Your car can become an effective examination room, especially one that prevents the spread of infectious diseases from patient to patient, and patient to caregiver. A group of physicians at SHC conducted a full-scale exercise in September 2009 and were able to FIND ANSWERS that were not only feasible, but a preferred type of alternative care in the event of a serious flu pandemic.

Eric A. Weiss, MD, first author of the study, associate professor of emergency medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and medical director for disaster planning at SHC, said, “It can expedite and facilitate seeing large numbers of patients while mitigating the spread of infectious diseases by providing a social distancing mechanism. And it not only can be used during a pandemic, but also would be an excellent strategy for bioterrorism, or for other emerging infectious disease events.”

With the TEAMWORK of Red Cross volunteers, the study was able to demonstrate that the drive-through diagnoses and treatment decisions matched what had occurred with the real-life patients when they visited the Stanford emergency room. Automobiles, it turned out, made excellent moving examination rooms, as well as self-contained isolation compartments. “Plus you don’t have the delays inherent in having to turn over a fixed number of rooms, waiting for patients to be discharged, having to change linens,” Weiss said.

With the results of the study, the Santa Clara County Public Health Department subsequently awarded a grant to the SHC and LPCH Office of Emergency Management to continue work on the new approach. “We developed a general drive-through plan for all the hospitals in the county,” Weiss added. “It’s essentially a playbook that shows how to set up one of these centers at your own hospital.”

For more information about the ADVANCEMENTS of an emergency drive-thru study, click here.

Imagine being a parent and taking care of your 2 month old premature baby who is plagued with multiple infections, a swelling belly, and needs multiple surgeries to fix an undetected intestinal torsion (or twisting) caused my infections. Then during the recovery time, having your baby hemorrhage during a liver biopsy and be rushed to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.

This sounds terrifying and it is a story, Lilia Martinez lives to tell about her now 2 year-old son, Ricardo. With the ADVANCEMENTS at LPCH, doctors determined that Ricardo needed a combined liver and intestinal transplant. Within less than a month, the team at LPCH successfully replaced Ricardo’s liver and small intestine. However, Lilia noticed that her son had shortness of breath once his breathing tube was removed. The doctors took her concern seriously and called in a team to help FIND ANSWERS. Within minutes Ricardo was being prepped for another surgery that remedied the problem. “That day they gained my complete trust,” Lilia said.

The COMPASSIONATE CARE offered at LPCH doesn’t stop there. The Family-Centered Care Program recognizes that a partnership with parents is the key to quality health care, which was developed by transplant experts and now has grown to encompass every specialty at the hospital. “I liked that they took my opinion seriously. What I said mattered,” stated Lilia.

For more information about Ricardo’s story and the Family-Centered Care Program, click here.