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It seems as if 2020 is the year of perpetual transition as we adjust and learn, adjust and learn. Our last few weeks as a membership has been spent thinking about returning to in-person visits (or not) and concurrently thinking about how our personal lives mirror this transition as states “re-open.” Below we post some of the resources and conversations members have shared with each other as we adjust together.

As a service to members and to the general public we will be posting weekly updates of our conversations and resource sharing efforts here. Because these are taken from email conversations, examples provided may refer to single clinics or situations. We hope this inspires, encourages and educates everyone as to the work that integrated care team members are doing in near real-time to the evolving pandemic. To Join CFHA and support integrated care, use this link: click to join.

Supporting Healthcare Professionals

• Larner College of Medicine in Vermont issued a weekly survey to better understand how primary care professionals are doing during the COVID-19 crisis: https://redcap.med.uvm.edu/surveys/?s=KHHMP89E48
• A team of professionals at the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Department of Health developed a First Responder Toolkit App to help providers manage, understand, and track their stress. The app is available via laptop and cell phone: https://firstrespondertoolkit.com

Patient Care

• The UMass Center for Integrated Primary Care continues to update their guidelines on resuming in-person behavioral health encounters in primary care: https://umassmed.edu/cipc/about/resources/BHP-COVID-Resources/
• Members of CFHA recommend the normalization of wearing masks and other PPE to develop a comfortable dynamic and atmosphere between patient and care provider. One member shared that he displayed a picture of his full face with some humanizing facts about him to form a better connection with patients.
• Members are experimenting with hybrid virtual and in-person schedules and adjusting to the new routines of mask wearing and decision-making about which patients to see in-person versus virtually.
• The Families and Health Special Interest Group: Drs. Aubrey Koehler and Joan Fleishman facilitated a webinar on “Intimate Partner Violence in Primary Care: Screening & Intervention During COVID-19 & Beyond.” The link to the recording is below: https://www.cfha.net/page/WebinarArchives

Thanks to Emma Serrano, CFHA intern, for her work in compiling these summaries.