After seeing the latest report from staff working at Presbyterian Hospital, it is clear there was a system failure resulting in a colossal breach in Standard of Care.
View news feed at http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2014/10/15/Nurses-We-Were-Told-to-Call-Authorities-for-Ebola-Protocol
View news feed at http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2014/10/15/Nurses-We-Were-Told-to-Call-Authorities-for-Ebola-Protocol
Staff claim there was no protocol. In actuality, Presbyterian Hospital may not have a policy specific to Ebola, but I guarantee they have an Infection Control Plan because it's required by Joint Commission. It is typically managed by an Infection Control Practitioner (ICP) and contains elements such as proper notification of potential epidemics or new infections, implementation of appropriate isolation, notification of key personnel within the hospital as well as in the community and even education of staff regarding critical patient care issues. The problem? They didn't follow it.
Every ICP or Infectious Disease Department is aware of The Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC). This is a federal advisory committee that provides guidelines regarding the practice of infection control strategies. Their guidelines for isolation precautions were last published in 2007. This is an ICP's bible! In this document contains "specific" information regarding the isolation requirements for a patient with Ebola and it's the same as what the CDC is commenting now, which is "standard," "contact," and "droplet" precautions. This entails wearing gloves, gowns and masks with face shields or eye protection. Additional PPE, such as double gloving or shoe covers, may be needed when handling copious amounts of infectious body fluids. A respirator is indicated when performing aerosol-generating procedures. These are procedures that may induce coughing, like intubation.
Education and communication with staff should have been a high priority....that ball was dropped. If the breaches in standard of care related to infection prevention mentioned in this news feed occurred, then brace yourself, we may not have seen the end of this just yet!
Education and communication with staff should have been a high priority....that ball was dropped. If the breaches in standard of care related to infection prevention mentioned in this news feed occurred, then brace yourself, we may not have seen the end of this just yet!
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