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Objective
The purpose of the Covid-19 UP patient outreach program is to contact patients and address any concerns or issues they are having through information sharing and coordination with their primary care providers. These patients have social and medical needs that places them at an increased risk of suffering from covid-19 complications. The goal during these calls is to assess any challenges that they may be facing. These include issues with maintaining social distancing, food security, medication refills, social needs or mental health needs. Once a challenge is identified by the interviewing medical student that student would refer the patient to local resources and would alert the patient’s primary care provider. The student will then follow up with that patient to ensure that their needs are met. A plan for continued follow up is tailored to each of the patient needs. The volunteers in this program are reaching out to over a hundred of Penn State Health’s most at risk patients in the State College area. This outreach program provides support and helps mitigate the risks that these patients face. In addition, our communication with these patients lets these patients know that their needs are the top priority of the Penn State Health team.
Deliverable
Medical students will follow each of the patients that have been assigned to them for the foreseeable future. The goal is to develop a relationship with these patients and help identify their needs and connect them with resources. The patient phone calls, and patient notes will also help coordinate the care of these patients with their primary care provider. These efforts will likely lead to an improved health outcome in many of these patients and will be a rewarding and educational experience for the medical students. The goal is to keep growing and improving this program during and after the covid-19 pandemic in order to keep serving the patient population in the central PA area.
Execution Plan
- Penn State Health Providers at the Mount Nittany Family Medicine clinic identified patients that have medical and social needs that places them at high risk of covid-19 complications.
- A script for calling patients was developed by a collaboration with Penn State Health providers and medical students.
- These patient lists were relayed to the lead medical student of this program
- The lists of patients were assigned and distributed to 10 different medical students.
- Students began conducting phone interviews with patients using the approved patient script.
- Students then are responsible for writing a patient note recording the result of the patient phone call.
- The note is then assigned to the patient’s primary care provider and the primary care provider will be alerted to any medical or social needs.
- Medical students will then follow up with the patient to ensure their needs are being met.