As a clinical leader, husband, father and friend, John Ragsdale, M.D., carries many burdens.
“I’m worried about people’s paychecks. I’m worried about the health of the practice. I’m worried about getting sick,” Ragsdale says. “I think like a lot of us, I have good days and I have bad days. I have days where I am tired for no reason and don’t get much done. And I have days where I feel like … I generally get a lot done.”
Last week, one of Ragsdale's children had a non-COVID-19 health emergency and was admitted to the hospital. Last month, Ragsdale had a non-COVID-19 health event of his own. All the while, Ragsdale continues to water plants on the administrative staff hallway at his clinic so when his staff returns, they won’t return to dead plants.
Much like his work to keep the plants alive, Ragsdale and his team at Duke Family Medicine Center are several weeks into an effort to re-invent the practice. Clinical staff, providers and nurses are incorporating telehealth visits and trying to reassure patients that it’s OK to come to the clinic for routine care, while also still managing one of Duke Health’s tents for COVID-19 testing and caring for symptomatic patients inside the clinic during certain hours.
“The most important thing to me right now … is staying safe …, and the second piece is really figuring out how to better re-engage all the patients who were canceled and get them back into the schedule virtually or by telephone,” Ragsdale says. “… They just don’t want to come into anywhere where other sick people are.”
As of April 27, Duke Family Medicine Center had conducted 1,919 video or telephone visits. The clinic sees patients for routine care in the morning and patients with COVID-19 symptoms in the afternoon (and on a separate hallway). Testing for COVID-19 continues at a large tent across Erwin Road in Duke’s GC lot with Duke Family Medicine Center teams overseeing the swabbing and training of other Duke Health providers and nurses who have been redeployed to work there. But testing numbers have dropped dramatically in recent weeks, and night and weekend hours have been reduced.
Ragsdale has concerns about how long the pandemic will last, and the impact it will have on patients, providers, his practice and the economy.
”We are going to have to be much more aggressive about how we are reaching out to patients, and then I think we also have to be very thoughtful about where people are mentally and support them,” Ragsdale says. “My message to the practice is that together we are strong and together we can solve this problem.”
Note: Duke Health’s drive-through COVID-19 testing sites are by appointment only and require a provider’s referral.
Special thanks to Caitlin Piccone, MPH, who transcribed the interview.