Clinic requires recent travelers from Texas to call from car

Cricket183, BSN, RN · Nov 11, 2014

I went to a surgery center the last week in October to have a series of ketamine infusions (4 days in a row). They had a table set up at the entrance manned by security. They were conducting a "influenza" screen. Yeah right, that's believable! There was a list of symptoms and you had to confirm that you didn't have any of them (or indicate if you did, which ones) and then sign and date the form. If you were symptom free then you got a sticker that you were required to wear at all times during your stay/visit. As a patient you were required to take the form with you and it became part of the medical record. They simply collected the visitor's statements at the table. Not sure what happened if you had any of the listed symptoms. Granted this was in Dallas (but not at Presby).

BeachsideRN, ASN · Nov 11, 2014

A clinic around here has a sign posted on its door that recent travelers from Texas need to go back to their cars and call the clinic on the phone for further instructions. This is a regular medical clinic. I'd post the photo of the sign, but it has the number of the clinic that someone might be able to Google.
Is that ignorant hogwash, or what? Lets cater to the ignorant fears of the uneducated public why don't we? After all, they might fill out a customer survey negatively, or trash us on an online feedback site!

Wow and I thought our system wide travel/symptom questionnaire (that has been instituted on our EMR on a screen that cannot be bypassed) for every patient that checks in to an appointment anywhere in the system was ridiculous ...

TiffyRN, BSN, PhD · Nov 11, 2014

They were conducting a "influenza" screen. Yeah right, that's believable! There was a list of symptoms and you had to confirm that you didn't have any of them (or indicate if you did, which ones) and then sign and date the form. If you were symptom free then you got a sticker that you were required to wear at all times during your stay/visit. Granted this was in Dallas (but not at Presby).

I don't find this completely unreasonable, just redundant.

It's completely reasonable to screen patients for symptoms & travel history with appropriate alerts for those with symptoms AND + travel history. Those patients would then be isolated & transported away from a surgery center which is NOT equipped to deal with such things.

But if every patient is screened & cleared, their id band should serve as "proof", they shouldn't require an additional sticker, redundant!!

TiffyRN, BSN, PhD · Nov 11, 2014

A clinic around here has a sign posted on its door that recent travelers from Texas need to go back to their cars and call the clinic on the phone for further instructions. This is a regular medical clinic. I'd post the photo of the sign, but it has the number of the clinic that someone might be able to Google.

Oh come on, that's so unequivocally ignorant these people need to be called out. Do they realize the incubation period for ALL Texas exposures expired a few days ago? The alert period for NY "exposures" expires in a couple of days.

Just like the consensus of Ebola experts predicted, if you weren't splashed by viral-rich poo or vomit, you were safe.

Dang, the lack of an outbreak is really ruining things for the conspiracy theorists.

BlueDevil, DNP · Nov 11, 2014

It is probably against the TOS, but I feel they deserve to be mocked.

klone, MSN, RN · Nov 11, 2014

I'm not following. I don't watch the news unless my husband makes me, due to my ignorance interfering with daily conversation. I don't understand what the sign means and why the clinic would be targeting people from Texas.

TiffyRN, BSN, PhD · Nov 11, 2014

I would have to assume it was because Dallas had the only known transmission cases of Ebola in the US, the nurses caring for a Liberian man who died. I've heard of some ridiculous Ebola overreactions but I assume these clinic people have some kind of medical knowledge, which is what makes it so egregious.

klone, MSN, RN · Nov 11, 2014

Oh wow. That is preposterous (and yes, I did know about the Ebola/Texas hospital thing). I agree with BlueDevil - you should post that # so that stupid clinic can get slammed with righteous indignation, and hopefully a little education in the process.

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Nov 11, 2014

Hello. More people have been married to Kim Kardasian than have contracted Ebola in the US. What does this clinic recommend for people with flu, which kills nearly 100,000 annually in the USA alone?

GRRRRRRRRRRR

psu_213, BSN, RN · Nov 11, 2014

There have been so many ridiculous, uneducated actions that have occurred in the US since this hysteria started. Like...

The teacher in Maine who traveled to Dallas for a conference while the pt. was being treated for Ebola. Parents in Maine were concerned. Rather than educating the parents they fed the paranoia by suspending the teacher for a period of time to "protect" the students. Teacher who flew to Dallas for Common Core seminar put on leave out of Ebola fear - The Washington Post

Or the airline passenger forced stay in the bathroom over ebola concerns (and don't tell me American Airlines cordons off the bathroom and has passengers stay in there even during landing each time someone throws up from airsickness). Ill air traveler fuels Ebola hysteria - Houston Chronicle

I could go on, but we all get the point. There is fear mongering out there and it is sad--especially when it comes from the media or politicians (mostly to try to "expose" how inept/unprepared :sarcastic: their political opponents are, but I digress). I understand that no one wants anything to do with Ebola…I certainly don't! But we need to start educating, not just sensationalizing the whole thing.

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Nov 11, 2014

this is a repeat of what occured during the 80's regarding HIV/AIDS. Ignorance and fear are powerful weapons.