Stanford Hospital to be first to try drive-through patient care
Bay City News
June 10, 2009
STANFORD MEDICAL CENTER — A pandemic strikes the Bay Area and people are in need of doctors. Instead of waiting around in crowded rooms, however, they pull into a parking space at Stanford Hospital and wait.
This new “drive-through” approach to processing large numbers of medical patients during a pandemic is about to be tested by the
hospital.
A test of the approach is planned for Friday at Stanford University, the first test of its kind in the U.S., Stanford health officials said. It offers a potential alternative to the standard walk-in system for screening and treating patients.
“The main idea is to avoid infection,” Dr. Eric Weiss, the hospital’s medical director for disaster planning, said in a statement.
Friday’s exercise involves medical staff at several screening and treatment stations with portable digital monitors, and portable labs for blood and other specimen testing. They will also test a drive-through plan for giving out medications or administering vaccines.
