CHRISTINE ROBINET, N.P.12 SUMMER 2020 BLUEWATERWOMAN.COM
PROTECTINGpatientsBY DALE HEMMILAChristine Robinet is a doer.A nurse practitioner at Physician HealthCare Network’s MacombFamily Practice, Robinet recently took on two new healthcare initiativesas a result of the COVID-19 pandemic to assist patients and facilityoperations.Prior to the pandemic, Robinet’s routine involved working with PietroCavataio, M.D., seeing patients for preventative visits, physicals, sick visitsand follow-up exams. That changed when Michigan Governor GretchenWhitmer issued stay at home orders in March. Even though visits tohealthcare offices were allowed, an uncertain and cautious public began toavoid clinic visits.“All of sudden, we went from a very busy office to essentially seeingno patients,” Robinet said. “No one wanted to come in, even if theywere sick, they didn’t want to come in. A lot ofpeople were scared and confused about what theyneeded to do to keep themselves safe.”At that point, it seemed obvious there wouldneed to be a different approach to patient carewith a nod to technology.“So pretty quickly, Dr. Cavataio and I starteddabbling in telehealth,” she said. “I’m prettygood with a computer, so I can fix most issuesand I kind of took it on that I was going to starttrying it.”They found a web-based platform that wassecure and HIPAA compliant. As patients continued to phone in withhealth care questions, they encouraged them to communicate through thetelehealth website.As patients continued to be reluctant to visit the office, it becameobvious that all the family care and urgent care providers would have tobecome comfortable using the telehealth program.“It took me a little bit of time to understand the platform,” Robinetsaid “Because without understanding it well, you’re not going to givegood instructions to the patient, the staff’s not going to know, so once Iwas kind of familiar of how the site worked, I wrote up some guidelinesand an instruction sheet for the providers on how to use it, for front deskstaff on how to explain this to patients, and some basic troubleshootingthings.”While there was a learning curve, Robinet said they feel comfortablewith the system even though they only began using it in March. Thepatients also have adapted to it very well.“They have been extremely pleased with telehealth,” she said, “andjust really appreciative that we were willing to do it. Overall it has beenan extremely positive response. Even continuing now, patients who areelderly or have mobility issues, it’s much easier for them if they have asmartphone or computer just to log in.”And Dr. Cavataio was impressed with Robinet’s work. “Christine wasinstrumental in establishing our telehealth care program,” he said. “Herexpertise in the latest technology helped our staff and patients navigatethrough technical difficulties that arose especially within our elderlypopulation.”While telehealth addressed patient and provider concerns related to inpersonvisits, the overriding healthcare concern remained the Coronaviruspandemic.Of major concern was the lack of testing available. This made diagnosisand treatment difficult for healthcare providers and patients.“Immediately when the stay at home order went into place, we weregetting calls about people who were sick,” Robinet said. “They neededto be tested and it was extremely difficult to figure out how we weresupposed to be doing this.“A lot of people in healthcare felt like we needed to do more to help thecommunity and our patients; Dr. Cavataio and I thought coordinatingtesting was one way we could really make a difference.”Fortunately, their office manager found a Grand Rapids lab that couldprovide the supplies for testing. That, however,was just a starting point.“It’s a lot more complicated than just having theswabs,” Robinet noted. “You have to know howto obtain a sample because it is a nasopharyngealswab, so it’s supposed to go to the back of thenose.”Issues related to patient safety, staff safety andother logistics also needed to be addressed.“After we got the testing supplies in the office,they sat around for a few days,” she said. “It justseemed to me there was a need for someoneto step up and be accountable for the process. So I read through all ofthe policies and procedures and wrote a policy of how I thought testingcould work in our office. I bought some bins and made some logs so wecould track things and figured out where all the supplies could go, wherethe patients would come from, and where our staff would keep PPE.I educated all the staff, including some of the providers who had neverobtained a nasopharyngeal swab before, on how to do it. We got it up andrunning quickly and we’ve been testing since the last week in April.”They have seen quite a few patients test positive.“When we get a positive result, that patient gets a call and werecommend they schedule a follow-up so that we can see how they aredoing,” Robinet said. “We’re just trying to follow-up with everyone asconsistently as we can so that everyone comes through this okay,” shesaid. “When it comes to helping your patients and the community, you’renever quite done with that job, but I think that we have done a great jobin educating our patients about the coronavirus.”Similar to the telehealth program, Dr. Cavataio noted Robinet’sinvolvement.“As the pandemic intensified, the lack of available testing became asource of great frustration for our patients and providers alike,” he said.“We wanted to be on the forefront of accessible testing in our area andagain, Christine rose to the occasion to make that a reality.“Her confidence and competence in implementing both of theseprojects has provided much needed guidance and assurance to each of ourstaff members in these uncertain times which is ultimately passed along toour patients.”SUMMER 2020 BLUEWATERWOMAN.COM 13
Change language