June 2020, Volume XXXIV, Number 3
When elective procedures aren’t elective
Planning for future emergencies
Minnesota has always set a high bar for innovation, quality outcomes, and delivery of health care, consistently ranking high among all the other states. Even so, the COVID-19 pandemic has provided policy leaders, public health officials, and the medical community with an opportunity to do better.
June 2020, Volume XXXIV, Number 3
interview
Serving older adults and caregivers
Dawn Simonson
Metropolitan Area Agency on Aging
When elective procedures aren’t elective: Planning for future emergencies
By Scott R. Ketover, MD, AGAF, FASGE
Minnesota has always set a high bar for innovation, quality outcomes, and delivery of health care, consistently ranking high among all the other states. Even so, the COVID-19 pandemic has provided policy leaders, public health officials, and the medical community with an opportunity to do better.
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Elective Surgery: Defining what is “essential”
By Joleen Harrison, RN, BSN, PHN, CASC
Prior to Gov. Tim Walz’s May 5 Emergency Executive Order (EO) 20-51 to “open up” elective surgery procedures across the state, health care centers had struggled to interpret what had been temporarily banned as “elective” under his previous orders in early March. Those EOs had been intended to conserve supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE), respirators, and anesthesia equipment, and to ensure safety and adequate resources for both physicians and patients, but offered little specific information or guidance.
Architecture
Person-centered care environments: New trends in assisted living facilities
By Gaius Nelson, MA
Physical or cognitive difficulties often make living at home impractical or unsafe for older adults. Multiple home care options provide support for those wishing to remain in the familiarity of their own home, but this can be an expensive proposition, and one that could limit the social interactions or the sense of community and belonging that are available in congregate long-term care settings.
Architecture
By Richard Ericson
Minnesota Physician’s Health Care Architecture Honor Roll recognizes outstanding achievement in new facilities design. Each year we present an overview of the widely varied work that creates the brick and mortar of patient care. The 11 projects featured in 2020 will serve patients of all ages in the areas of behavioral health, orthopedics, surgery, physical therapy, neurosocience, birthing and fetal care, primary care, and more, at sites throughout the state.
Architecture
COVID-19’s influence on facility design: Considering patient and provider safety
By Stacy L. Collins and Dave Moga, AIA
There is no denying that the world is a different place than it was a few short months ago. A seemingly healthy economy has been leveled to its knees and daily patterns and behaviors have changed dramatically. There is not a single industry that has been unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic—some positively, most negatively. As we emerge from the pandemic, many positive changes will follow.
The coronovirus pandemic: Assessing neurological complications
By Irfan Altafullah, MD
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are believed to cause between 15–30% of common colds. SARS-CoV2 is one member of this family. Until recently, it was known to be endemic only in bats and is believed to have jumped species to infect humans, probably through an as yet unidentified intermediate host.
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