Drive-Thru Medical Clinics May Come

We have drive through restaurants and drive-through banks. I even saw a story about a drive-through church once, so is it inevitable to have drive-through medical clinics at some point?

Actually, it just may be inevitable but not for the reasons you may be thinking. To me, drive-throughs are the height of excess and laziness. Not that I don’t use them myself, I do use drive-through fast food restaurants when they’re available. I don’t use drive-through banking. I do see how that could have its place with people with limited mobility or who have a sleeping infant in the back seat, but really, do we really need it? No. But, we may need the drive-through clinics.

According to a study published in the online version of the Annals of Emergency Medicine, paramedics and nurses working in a drive-through could help speed up care in a pandemic situation or other emergency and limit cross-contamination between patients.

The study was designed to determine if such a medical clinic was feasible. Mock patients were presented to the staff and carbon monoxide levels in the garage were measured. Researchers also assessed how doctors perceived the drive-through triaged patients.

The patients drove into the garage that had three stations set up for triage. Emergency equipment, including a crash cart and resuscitation equipment for cardiac or respiratory arrests, was available throughout the garage. Nurses screened the patients and if the nurses felt the patients were stable, they were directed to a special lane for the drive-through clinic. If the nurses found that the patients were severely ill, they were sent to the emergency department. At two of the stations, the nurses measured vital signs. At the third station, which was in a heated and draped off area, patients stepped out of the car for a complete physical examination.

If it was determined that the mock patients needed medications, mock drugs and prescriptions were distributed.

The results were positive. The doctors who took part in the exercise were 100% accurate in identifying patients who had to be admitted and those who could be discharged. Carbon monoxide measurements showed that the environment was safe for both staff and patients. Also positive was the amount of time it took to be seen and processed: an average of 26 minutes.

Another thing that weighed in on the positive side was the use of the patients’ vehicles, which acted like private rooms, preventing cross-contamination of contagious illnesses.

There are, of course, some drawbacks to such a set up, including the lack of public bathrooms and the temperature of the environment as air conditioning may not be the norm in indoor parking lots.

What do you think? Is this a good idea?

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Images: PhotoXpress.com, MorgueFile.com