Background: We had a lovely, devout Muslim couple who had a baby a while back in my hospital. Their requests were clear but simple; no meat diet and no male care providers other than the ones already assigned to their care. (meaning no lab techs, nurses, housekeeping, etc). I passed this on in report but apparently poorly and ineffectively, as two days later, to their their horror, a male doctor entered the room to examine the baby. The baby was under the care of a female dr at first, but on-call assignments changed and and this gentleman took over, entering the room unaware of the situation. (He was not told and we had nothing on the door/chart, unfortunately, indicating the situation). The lady did not have time to cover her head/face before he entered, which was the main problem for them.
They handled this very well and politely--- but were extremely upset, understandably. Obviously, this is not information to be left to report alone, as such facts can and (were) lost as the days passed.
So, here is my question. We want to avoid a similar situation in the future. How do you handle such cases, where as you know, staff change by day, and housekeeping/lab/other personnel may enter care and need to be made aware of such mandates or preferences made by patients based on cultural or religious reasons? Do you use signage on the door? Kardex reports that spell it out clearly? Mark charts? My concern is NO ONE enter such rooms before we gain permission, yet there are administrators who feel signage may be inappropriate or offensive to such patients.
SO, what do you do to avoid the faux pas I caused this couple?
We did apologize and they were very understanding and accepting......... we just never want this to happen again and I have to come up with a plan of action that is spelled out clearly in writing, in time for our next staff meeting in 2 weeks.
