As the situation regarding the spread of the COVID-19 virus continues to progress, we want to keep you informed of the changes we have made involving patient care at the NJRetina offices. Various measures are being implemented and enhanced as the situation develops, to keep the patients you have entrusted to our care and our staff safe.
As of Monday, March 16, 2020, elective patient appointments are being deferred. Patients undergoing regular anti-VEGF injections for wet AMD and other patients who are at risk of visual loss will continue to be seen. Patients are being called directly by the office to reschedule their appointments.
Similarly, all elective surgery (e.g., macular puckers) is being deferred. However, we remain available and fully capable to care for your patients now, should you feel your patient requires care that cannot be deferred. Please continue to reach out to the offices or on-call numbers as you have in the past to refer those patients to be seen.
Procedures that have been implemented to increase staff and patient safety, include:
1. All patients receive a call prior to a scheduled visit and are asked screening questions to determine if their appointment should be postponed.
2. When patients arrive for their appointment, they are instructed to call from their car and are invited into the office individually to minimize patients gathering in the waiting areas.
3. Testing schedules have been modified to streamline flow in the office.
4. Workup, testing rooms, exam rooms and waiting rooms are cleaned between patients and on a regular schedule.
5. Staff are cautioned not to travel outside of the continental U.S., but if they do, are quarantined from the office for 14 days upon return to the country.
6. Staff are instructed on the importance of hand washing and avoiding hand-to-face contact.
7. Any staff with a cough or fever are quarantined from the office until fully asymptomatic.
We continue to monitor available resources for information and guidance and use our internal resources to adjust our policies and procedures accordingly. We understand that it may be difficult to keep up with all that is happening and if any doctor or practice would like to regularly receive our COVID-19 policy updates or copies of our screening questions or other details please email us at infectioncontrol@njretina.com.