We Are Here. We Are Ready. Always

Dear MUSC Health Patients and Families,

Our primary goal at MUSC Health is the safety of our patients, families and care team members. This is not a new focus for us. We are a national leader in patient safety, having developed and implemented many innovative programs as well as receiving numerous awards for quality and patient safety. Safety to us is more than a high-level goal - we monitor and measure safety very closely every single day. It is part of our culture.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began to challenge MUSC Health, with safety in mind, we have responded by making regular adjustments to respond to new challenges resulting from this situation. As a result, we want you to be aware of the following important information:

1. Social distancing and stay at home orders have been very successful in preventing a large number of patients from being admitted to our facilities; and
2. Precautions taken to keep our care team members healthy have resulted in a very low number of COVID-19 infections (less than two percent) among our health care team.

What did we do to achieve this level of fewer COVID-19 infection than expected?

• We restricted access to our facilities in order to optimize the safety of our patients;
• We began remote working for many care team members and offered telehealth to you if it was safer than an in-person visit; and
• We were one of the earliest advocates of broad testing in South Carolina. We tested our care team members early on, contact traced the source of the infection, and implemented quarantines of care team members for 14 days before they could return to work. This has resulted in few of our care team members contracting COVID-19. This is no different than our surrounding communities.

While we remain vigilant and prepared, this is very good news for our patients, families, and care team members.

It is important that you feel safe seeking the health care that you need. Many people are working behind the scenes to ensure your safety. Learn more about what you can expect from MUSC (PDF).

While preventing infection is paramount, we also know how important it is for you to have family with you during your care. Therefore, we have changed our COVID-19 visitor restrictions and now welcome one support person to be with you during a hospital stay or an appointment. Two parents or guardians may stay with a child and one support person can be with an expectant mother. We have also made additional exceptions for patients at the end of life. Family should simply discuss their needs with the unit manager.

You will see when you come to visit us that we are masking, social distancing, preventing crowds, and may ask you to do something a little different in order to promote a higher degree of safety for you.

We remain here always, and we are ready to partner with you for your healthcare needs.

Please continue to stay safe.

Regards,

Patrick J. Cawley, MD
CEO, MUSC Health