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Ruiz Colón GDM, Mulaney B, Reed RE, Ha SK, Yuan V, Liu X, Cao S, Ambati VS, Hernandez B, Cáceres W, Charon M, Singh B. The COVID-19 Pandemic as an Opportunity for Operational Innovation at 2 Student-Run Free Clinics. J Prim Care Community Health 2021; 12:2150132721993631. [PMID: 33615883 PMCID: PMC7900784 DOI: 10.1177/2150132721993631] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent county shelter-in-place order forced
the Cardinal Free Clinics (CFCs), Stanford University’s 2 student-run free clinics, to
close in March 2020. As student-run free clinics adhering to university-guided COVID
policies, we have not been able to see patients in person since March of 2020. However,
the closure of our in-person operations provided our student management team with an
opportunity to innovate. In consultation with Stanford’s Telehealth team and educators, we
rapidly developed a telehealth clinic model for our patients. We adapted available
telehealth guidelines to meet our patient care needs and educational objectives, which
manifested in 3 key innovations: reconfigured clinic operations, an evidence-based social
needs screen to more effectively assess and address social needs alongside medical needs,
and a new telehealth training module for student volunteers. After 6 months of piloting
our telehealth services, we believe that these changes have made our services and
operations more robust and provided benefit to both our patients and volunteers. Despite
an uncertain and evolving public health landscape, we are confident that these
developments will strengthen the future operations of the CFCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriela D M Ruiz Colón
- Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.,Stanford University, Cardinal Free Clinincs, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Bianca Mulaney
- Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.,Stanford University, Cardinal Free Clinincs, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Ruby E Reed
- Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.,Stanford University, Cardinal Free Clinincs, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Sierra K Ha
- Stanford University, Cardinal Free Clinincs, Stanford, CA, USA.,Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Victoria Yuan
- Stanford University, Cardinal Free Clinincs, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Xichong Liu
- Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.,Stanford University, Cardinal Free Clinincs, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Siqi Cao
- Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.,Stanford University, Cardinal Free Clinincs, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Vardhaan S Ambati
- Stanford University, Cardinal Free Clinincs, Stanford, CA, USA.,Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | | | - Wendy Cáceres
- Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.,Stanford University, Cardinal Free Clinincs, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Mina Charon
- Stanford University, Cardinal Free Clinincs, Stanford, CA, USA.,VA Palo Alto Division, Palo Alto, CA, USA
| | - Baldeep Singh
- Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.,Stanford University, Cardinal Free Clinincs, Stanford, CA, USA
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