Restarting After the Coronavirus Emergency: Here’s What We Did During Lockdown

The Coronavirus emergency instantly brought the plans, actions, and routines of our lives to a halt. It was like a wave that overwhelmed us, forcing us overnight to find new practical solutions to continue providing patient care and carrying out scientific research in complete safety for both patients and professionals. During these fifty days, our work never stopped and led to extraordinary results.

How We Faced the Covid-19 Epidemic

At the beginning, dealing with the Covid-19 epidemic was not easy, as there were no guidelines from the Ministry or other authorities. Our Institute was not required to close, but we decided to do so in order to protect the health of our patients and staff. On March 10, we wrote April 14 on our office board as a possible reopening date: a date that seemed very far away, and one by which we all hoped the worst would be over. Instead, the pandemic forced us to update the date to May 4.
During these fifty days, we reorganized ourselves and all worked from home through remote working, getting used to holding meetings via video conference. We missed physical contact, conversations, and interactions among ourselves and with our patients, but above all came safety.

Even During the Emergency, We Wanted to Offer the Best

All our staff, both administrative and healthcare personnel, made themselves available to help us reopen responsibly. We divided ourselves into four main tasks:

• Contacting patients to reschedule all appointments (more than 2,500, and twice due to the postponed reopening), while also assisting with new appointments.
• Supporting our patients via email and, in selected cases, through direct contact, resulting in more than 2,000 email conversations over 50 days.
• Organizing and carrying out work to further increase the clinic’s already high healthcare safety standards, with an investment exceeding €150,000.
• Continuing our scientific research and professional development activities.

It was an enormous effort, but we were ready to face it in order to guarantee quality and safety for everyone attending our clinic.

What We Did for Our Patients

Despite the emergency, we certainly could not abandon our patients: therapies had to continue and new consultations could not stop. We therefore continued to communicate with and assist patients via email and, in some cases, through Skype consultations, relying on their medical records and questions. During the closure period, we had more than 4,500 email conversations with our patients, all completely free of charge.
Meanwhile, our administrative team worked from home to purchase supplies and organize the new bureaucracy, so that we would be fully prepared for reopening.

Clean Air to Fight the Virus

Knowing that the main vehicle for virus transmission is the air, we decided to make a major investment in our ventilation system to guarantee air that is constantly clean and sanitized. We installed a modern system that takes clean air from outside and introduces it indoors — and vice versa — nine times per hour in every room, without any mixing between the two airflows. It is a state-of-the-art system, comparable to those installed in hospital infectious disease wards. The system itself is also regularly sanitized in every component.
To further improve hygiene within our facility, we installed column devices in every room that further purify the air using the latest generation ultraviolet-C light, capable of eliminating molds, bacteria, and viruses. Still not satisfied, we adopted a new machine called HYGENIO which, by spraying disinfectant, sterilizes surfaces within 30 seconds and prevents bacterial proliferation for up to 70 hours. Clean air and a sanitized environment are the first weapons against the spread of the virus.

Our Research Never Stopped

During this closure period, our research activities also continued and achieved excellent results despite the difficulties caused by lockdown restrictions. We published a scientific paper dedicated to our new vitiligo recognition software. The software analyzes photographs taken with the aid of black light, which highlights the difference between healthy skin and skin affected by vitiligo, and is capable of recognizing the presence of the condition. In addition to identifying whether or not a patient is affected by vitiligo, the tool can also analyze the collected data to generate statistical information, such as identifying the areas most frequently affected.
Finally, together with AIDA, the Italian Association of Dermatologists, we organized the First National Online Congress, which professionals could attend via live streaming on May 27, 28, 29, and 30, or later on demand through the dedicated portal.

What You Will Find at Dermacademy

To organize your return to Dermacademy, we began by implementing measures designed to guarantee a healthy and safe environment. We provided all our staff with disposable FFP2 masks, to be changed daily, and installed the best plexiglass barriers to separate patients from reception staff. We also established that every consultation room would be completely sanitized after each individual visit, between one patient and the next.
Not satisfied with that, we also decided to sanitize the entire facility every morning through a specialized hospital-certified company, CFT, capable of offering the quality of service we were looking for. At the Institute entrance, we also organized a Triage station where a nurse measures temperature, provides masks, and checks Covid-19-related health information. This procedure allows access only to individuals in good health and minimizes the possibility of contagion.

Restarting with Maximum Safety

After all this time, thanks to these changes and after two weeks of reopening, we are proud to welcome our patients once again. We chose to close during this period so we could focus on making our Institute even safer — and we succeeded.
Of course, we also remind you that everyone must do their part: wear a mask, wash your hands frequently, do not enter the facility unless you are in perfect health, and maintain safe distancing. If everyone contributes in their own small way, we will overcome this situation soon!