In an effort to protect patients and staff from exposure to COVID-19, and to conserve critical equipment and supplies, the U.S. Surgeon General and American College of Surgeons have recommended restrictions or eliminations on ?elective? surgeries.
But abortion rights advocates fear this declaration may adversely impact abortion access.
While hospitals and urgent care centers across the country brace themselves for an onslaught of patients seeking testing or treatment for the novel coronavirus, another segment of the health care field is preparing to continue as normal operations as possible.
Recent data reveals that San Francisco refers Black and Latino families to Child Protective Services (CPS) custody at a higher rate than Caucasian families. In the city of San Francisco, there are 208 allegations of child maltreatment per 1,000 children?with many referrals originating at Zuckerberg San Francisco General (SFGH). SFGH is the largest safety-net hospital in the area and about 1,000 babies are born there every year. Currently, there is no protocol in place within the hospital to provide guidance to clinicians or social workers around involving CPS in a patient?s case. Furthermore, there is no mechanism for departmental oversight of referrals to CPS and many patients perceive bias and racism to be at play in their CPS referrals.
In October, estimated GFR (eGFR) reporting was modified by the laboratory at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. Whereas previously eGFR was reported as two separate values i.e. ?if African American? or ?if non African American,? these two values are now reported as a range with the clinical note: ?Patients with more muscle mass and better nutritional status are more likely to be on the higher end of this range.? This change was made in an effort to reduce medical errors and improve health equity at our hospital and affiliated clinics.
Participants in a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) trial comparing TDF/FTC (Truvada) with a look-alike dummy pill aimed to take two pills 2 to 24 hours before sex, one pill 24 hours after the first two pills, and one pill 24 hours after the third pill.
Dr. Monica Hahn co-authored a piece called “Special Considerations: The Care of Women and Gender Variant Patients Living with HIV” in the October 2018 issue of HIV Specialist Magazine.
