Leaders at Penn State Health and Penn State College of Medicine have revised the COVID-19 Important Clinical Care Guidance and renamed it COVID-19 Interim Summary Clinical Care Guidance.
Early in the pandemic, Penn State Health’s medical centers adapted care models to meet the crisis, including reducing clinical staff interacting with COVID-infected patients to conserve personal protective equipment (PPE) and altering the use of equipment to reduce employee infections.
Now that providers have had access to vaccinations and supplies of PPE are more readily available, the health system and College are moving toward more routine standards of care. Penn State Health and the College of Medicine recognize COVID-19 is unique compared with other infections, so additional precautions will continue.
- Clinical personnel may provide most ordinary aspects of care for patients confirmed to have or suspected of having COVID-19, as long as the personnel have completed PPE and N95―or powered air-purifying respirator― training.
- Pregnant or severely immunocompromised health care providers should not provide in-person, direct care for patients known to have COVID-19 or those clinically suspected to have COVID-19.
- Students also should not provide direct care for patients who are COVID-positive or under clinical suspicion for COVID, with the exception of those who are advanced in their levels of training, have appropriate oversight and are working in the Emergency Department or on one of the undifferentiated respiratory failure (TURF) teams: hospitalist TURF or Intensive Care Unit TURF.
- Clinical staff should continue to take strict precautions and limit the number of room entries to keep all care team members safe.
