Would you Have Said Something to the Surveyor?

[flashpoint]

We had a survey team in our facility yesterday. They were there on a complaint that was unfounded (yay!). One of the people on the survey team looked awful. She admitted that she was not feeling well and wore a mask. She wore her mask just below her nose, so it just covered her mouth. Every time she talked to someone, she lowered the mask and when she went into resident rooms, she took it off completely. A part of me wanted to ask her to wear the mask properly. The DON also considered asking her about it, but the administrator told her not to, so the DON told me to leave it alone. Seems crazy that we would allow someone to potentially infect our residents because she is a state surveyor.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

I would have insisted (very diplomatically) that she wear her mask properly to avoid spreading her infection. She should have known better; many surveyors are nurses, and the ones who aren't usually know "the rules". Better to risk alienating a surveyor than to have frail residents exposed to illness.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I probably would have said something before checking with the DON or administrator -- once you checked and they said not to, you're kind of stuck.

I'm the one who made the CEO of our 1000 bed hospital wear an isolation gown to visit his "dear friend" who was on our unit and in isolation. (My manager, standing next to me, kept asking "Do you know who that is? Do you know who that is?" I didn't, but it wouldn't have made any difference. After all, I hung up on the president of the United States once when he requested information that would be considered HIPAA protected these days. )

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

Surveyors are not above the law or the regulations. I've had to ask surveyors to knock on doors before entering a room and put on precaution gowns before going into a CDiff room

[NurseCard, ADN]

I'm the one who made the CEO of our 1000 bed hospital wear an isolation gown to visit his "dear friend" who was on our unit and in isolation. (My manager, standing next to me, kept asking "Do you know who that is? Do you know who that is?" I didn't, but it wouldn't have made any difference. After all, I hung up on the president of the United States once when he requested information that would be considered HIPAA protected these days. )

I wouldn't mind hearing that story.

[sideshowstarlet, BSN, RN]

I wouldn't mind hearing that story.

YES, Ruby Vee, do tell!!!!

And I agree that state surveyors are not above the regulations they enforce. If the nursing home admin feels that asking a state surveyor to wear a mask properly (!) affected their survey results, they have the right to file an appeal. They shouldn't have just let the surveyor walk around like that. Is it possible this was some sort of test and now y'all will end up tagged for allowing a "visitor" (the surveyor) to go around with 1. An improperly applied mask when she was sick and 2. Allowing someone to take off the mask before entering a resident's room? It just seems so... Blatant. And nobody else on the survey team said anything?