NP's how are you these days?

[Corey Narry]

Just checking in to see how everyone is doing in the NP world amidst this COVID19 pandemic. We in Acute/Critical Care for sure are on high alert...mandated work hours if a surge happens. We've had patients with the disease of course but not to the point of shortages of supplies, equipment or healthcare worker fatigue. The daily emails and updates can be overwhelming though. I'm sure those in primary care are inundated with requests for testing.

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

22 hours ago, thinbluelineRN said:

Update from my onsite occmed clinic- my traffic has increased 3 fold. Now I'm being sent patient who have URI and cold symptoms to triage even though my company is not testing for COVID-19 or providing test kits.

That's frustrating. So where do you send them for testing if you have a suspicion? Do you send them to public health labs (through DPH)?

[KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN]

14 minutes ago, juan de la cruz said:

That's frustrating. So where do you send them for testing if you have a suspicion? Do you send them to public health labs (through DPH)?

Where I am, multiple urgent care clinics all send patients to outdoor triage and testing centers associated with larger hospitals if there are any suspicions. Initially, provider's note from urgent care was enough to test, then (in approximately 24 h) there was a surge of people who had symptoms of their COPD or asthma or CHF or environmental allergy, but since they "fulfilled 2 out of 3 criteria" (cough and SOB but not fever), or were just sent there by too benevolent primary care providers for the sake of "good customer service", the triage was reinforced and testing protocols strictly tightened. There are still not enough tests to check everyone who desires it.

Now we see quite a few folks coming in urgent care or even ER with complains on chronic joint pain and fatigue for the last X years (and other impossible to check symptoms borrowed from Google Medical School) claiming they must have "lupus or something" and wanting Plaquenil.

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

3 hours ago, KatieMI said:

Now we see quite a few folks coming in urgent care or even ER with complains on chronic joint pain and fatigue for the last X years (and other impossible to check symptoms borrowed from Google Medical School) claiming they must have "lupus or something" and wanting Plaquenil.

Shady! bet they are going to stockpile and sell them in the black market. Just kidding.

[thinbluelineRN, MSN, NP]

4 hours ago, juan de la cruz said:

That's frustrating. So where do you send them for testing if you have a suspicion? Do you send them to public health labs (through DPH)?

It is very frustrating. If I sent them to PH they need to have active symptoms. If I send them to their own doctors the doctors don't wan to see them. I feel like I'm failing the patients and am not equipped with the tools to provide them services they need.

[singleye]

I started in a specialty NP clinic 2.5 months ago in an academic center. Our pt volume is also way down even with tele medicine visit options. Our MAs and RNs are taking low censes but no one had talked to the APPs yet. We are still waiting for the covid 19 surge and the hospital side talked about matching staff in the clinic to work in the hospital side when the surge occurs. I am technically still in training and does not have patients of my own. I am thinking about taking a personal leave because of the low patient volume and because I really don't want to go back to work as a RN on the covid 19 floor.

[guest416560]

Derm FNP here. Went from 35 patient visits a day to 4. My clinics are located in the San Francisco Bay area and San Joaquin Valley. We are doing telehealth but its not keeping up with our regular patient volume. We are now on a rotating furlough schedule. At least one week a month no pay. Hopefully we'll get back to full speed soon. They don't want to do lay offs but it may be inevitable.

[barishan, BSN]

On 03.04.2020 at 05:53, FNP2B1 said:

Derm FNP burada. Günde 35 hasta ziyaretinden 4'e gittim. Kliniklerim San Francisco Körfezi bölgesinde ve San Joaquin Vadisi'nde. Telehealth yapıyoruz ama düzenli hasta hacmimize uymuyor. Şimdi dönen bir furlough programındayız. Ayda en az bir hafta ödeme yok. Umarım yakında tam hıza geri döneriz. İşten çıkarmak istemiyorlar ama kaçınılmaz olabilir.

Hello. Telemedicine service should be provided in the country where I live and APRN is required.

I am a new member of the site and I'm reading. How do I give telemedicine service in dermatology, can you explain a little bit?

[agiboma, BSN, MSN, NP]

Pmhnp working from home for various telemedicine companies. It works well because I got young school age kids. Good luck to everyone and stay safe.

[Mr.Sta, BSN, MSN, NP]

Family Practice in rural area. Still limited cases of covid in the state, my patient load daily has dropped from around 18 down to 4. So people are listening and staying home. We have started doing some telephone visits when appropriate, and have tested a small number of people who have met criteria. Has not been to wild yet but I am sure it is coming sooner than later. I am not sure if my patient load decreased from covid or the fact I am a Walden graduate... ?. ? couldn't help myself.

[GoodNP]

Eleven frontline employees in my clinic furloughed yesterday. Heard the hospital group I work for has laid off 15 providers in my city.

But, we have surgical masks LOL.

[Guest1144461]

Hospitalist role in a west coast city. Yeah I am busy LOL

[allennp]

well here is another take, at a large hospital in Seattle they have sent out a group email that we are PA/ARNP are subject to be redeployed in a position other than what we work as, within scope as phrased, I.e PA can be redeployed as a MA helper and the NP's can be forced to work as a RN. It has been portrayed that if asked and you decline you will be subject to dismissal.... all that being said I have not yet heard of them forcing the issue.