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.