The district of Fürth commissioned AGNF with the planning and implementation. Within a week, our employees at the Dillenberg School Center in Cadolzburg worked hard to prepare everything for commissioning. It was important to ensure that there was no overlap between potentially infectious patients and pupils, even when school resumed. This could be ensured with a triage (patient triage) upstream of the building, spatially separated treatment rooms, as well as a corresponding control of the patient flow via separate entrances.
Potentially infected citizens were registered via their GP or contacted the practice directly by telephone to make an appointment. As a rule, patients could be treated in the practice on the same day. On arrival, the patient was triaged according to the probability of a COVID-19 infection (according to the RKI scheme) and the medical urgency (adapted ESI triage concept).
If the infection triage was positive, the patient was examined under full protection by a doctor and a healthcare professional in a separate treatment area. A swab test for SARS-CoV-2 was also routinely carried out and the test results were often available the following day. Patients with corresponding respiratory symptoms were referred directly to clinical care.
Fortunately, many of the patients only showed moderate flu-like symptoms. These patients were often able to remain in home quarantine. Patients who were not suspected cases were treated in the building. All the resources that are found in a GP practice were available there. In detail, these are
Laboratory diagnostics
12-lead ECG
Ultrasound
Various rapid laboratory tests
The daily utilization of the practice fluctuated greatly. On some days, up to 30 patients were examined and treated. However, due to the nationwide lockdown, the number of COVID-19 cases in the district of Fürth is fortunately declining. This helped to avoid overloading medical care capacities. Fortunately, the district of Fürth is therefore currently able to suspend the operation of the Cadolzburg specialist practice.
For us at AGNF, this was and is an interesting and exciting change from the familiar and routine of everyday education. It was also very important to us to make a contribution to society in the current crisis situation.
