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August 28, 2009
Latest News
Few people want to spend time in a hospital, especially in the emergency room…especially with H1N1 Swine Flu going around. But sometimes it’s necessary. Hospitals are a place to go to get well, not to contract other germs, so Heart of Florida Regional Medical Center is taking measures to limit hospital patient and visitor exposure to illness both in the ER and on patient care floors.
In the Emergency Room
Patients waiting in the ER are ill, and the longer they wait together, the more germs are shared. By getting patients in quickly to see a health care provider, Heart of Florida can help minimize the spread of germs.
Michael McHale, D.O., of Heart of Florida’s Emergency Room explains, “Heart of Florida’s wait times are so much shorter than other hospitals’ – an average of 20-22 minutes to see a provider over the past three months – that we expose patients to illness in the waiting room for a shorter time than other hospitals.”
Of the patients coming to Heart of Florida’s ER, 35%-40% have flu-like symptoms and are given a surgical mask for protection at sign-in. They’re then directed to the hospital’s Fast Track service, a kind of urgent care adjacent to the ER.
“We’re being proactive in keeping exposure time to other patients the shortest,” says Dr. McHale. “Almost all of the patients presenting with flu-like symptoms will be the H1N1 strain, so physicians will go ahead and treat them for it.”
On the Patient Floors
To limit germ exposure to patients and visitors of all ages, Heart of Florida today implemented a revised visitation policy requiring all visitors to the inpatient floors to be 18 years of age or older. Under the previous policy, children had to be 12 or older to visit patients.
“We’re trying to keep exposure down and we’re trying to keep kids safe,” explains Dr. McHale. “If we expose children to the H1N1 virus or other germs, then they go to school and expose this densely populated group, who then go home to their families and expose them…it’s a preventative measure not a punitive measure.”
“If all hospitals adopted a similar policy,” says Steve Sellers, Clinical Director of Heart of Florida’s Emergency Room, “it would be better for all. It’s the best thing for the public and for patients in the hospital. The young are a susceptible group and we’re protecting our own patients, as well.
“As long as it’s classified as a pandemic we have to take measures to protect people.”
H1N1 Swine Flu
“Swine Flu is hitting the younger population between the ages of 25-45, and it’s got a significant mortality rate, as high as 10% in Florida,” says James Ryan, M.D., infectious disease specialist at Heart of Florida. “There’s also a predisposition for pregnant women to get the Swine Flu.”
Pat Nelson, RN, BSN, Infection Preventionist Director at Heart of Florida, explains why that is significant. “One of the characteristics of this flu is that it’s putting people with respiratory illnesses, such as asthma, at greater risk of pneumonia.” Other influenza viruses lead to pneumonia, too, but because younger people are developing it more so than traditionally is the case, it is notable.
Nationwide, 75% of hospitalizations from Swine Flu and 60% of the deaths attributed to Swine Flu are people under 49 years of age. Those are only the confirmed cases, which number 7963 hospitalizations nationwide and 522 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Many more cases are unconfirmed and/or untested.
“When patients come in to the ER with a viral type of illness, you have to entertain the possibility of Swine Flu infection,” says Dr. Ryan. “So far the rapid influenza screening test has had up to a 30-40% false negative.” Doctors are being instructed by the CDC to treat for Swine Flu if it is suspected.
Planning for the future
It is estimated that when the flu gets in full swing, there may be up to 30% of the workforce out sick at any given time. That’s cause for concern in a lot of industries, and especially alarming for an emergency room that has to keep patients flowing through its doors and on the path to healing.
“We can plan now to help minimize exposure to germs by instituting this revised visitation policy,” says Jay Finnegan, Heart of Florida CEO. “It’s a proactive step – a basic preventive measure – to keep our patients safer, our children safer and to help stop the spread of Swine Flu and other viruses in our community.”
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