Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
Respiratory illness shuts down hospital unit
Updated 5 hours ago
OBSERVER STAFF
Bluewater Health has temporarily shut down a patient unit due to a surge in respiratory illness.
Additional infection control procedures have been implemented at the Norman Site in the Cognitively Complex Continuing Care Unit (3SCC).
A confirmed diagnosis is not yet available, but affected patients failed the hospital's screen for febrile respiratory illness (FRI). Hospital staff are working with the Community Health Services Department on specimen testing, and affected patients will continue to be monitored and reviewed daily.
On Friday, visitation to the 25-bed unit was restricted to one designated support person to prevent further transmission. The restrictions will continue until all patients are symptom-free for a seven-day period. Family members of all the patients on the unit have been notified.
Procedures implemented on the unit, in addition to those begun in October as part of the hospital's Pandemic Influenza Plan, include:
? enhanced cleaning;
? patients will not be transferred into the unit; only those being discharged directly to home will be released; and
? all staff caring for the affected patients will wear gowns, gloves and masks.
"Whenever there is a cluster of people experiencing respiratory symptoms and with the increased risk of pH1N1 this year, we implement control procedures quickly to reduce the chances that others may become ill," said Dr. Martin Lees, Chief of Professional Staff.
To prevent the spread of infection, all patients, families and visitors are asked to be aware of the following when coming to hospital:
<!-- Updated by Sunjoyo on July 18, 2008, as per Mantis Bug Request on July 17, 2008--><!-- Hide the above panel if there's a banner zone but no ad --><SCRIPT type=text/javascript> $(document).ready( function() { if ($("#banZone")[0]) { //find out where the end of the initial script tag is. var cutoff = $("#banZone").html().toLowerCase().replace(/ /g, "").replace(/\r\n/g, "").indexOf("/script>") + 8; var adzoneHTML = $("#banZone").html().toLowerCase().replace(/ /g, "").replace(/\r\n/g, "").substring(cutoff); //get the remaining substring. Take the first six characters of that. var banzone = adzoneHTML.substring(0, 6); //If there is no banner data associated to that zone, the substring found //above will contain the closing div tag of the banner. If it has data, //there will be something else in its place. If no data, hide the banner. if (banzone == '</div>') { $("#banZone").css("display", "none"); } } }); </SCRIPT>
? Signage directing patients who have arrived with respiratory symptoms to clean their hands and put on a mask.
? Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are available at all hospital entrances and throughout departments. Staff, patients, families and visitors are expected to clean their hands often. Instructions for proper hand hygiene are posted.
? All patients that come for services at Bluewater Health are screened for influenza-like illness.
? Any patient that fails the screen and/or a clinical assessment is treated as a possible influenza case. Possible influenza cases will be asked to wear a mask, may be asked to have a swab taken for testing, may be admitted based on the severity of illness or sent home with self-care instructions.
? Visitors on all units, except 3SCC, are limited to two (2) designated, consistent support persons per patient. People who are sick are asked to not visit hospitalized patients.
http://theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2186079
Updated 5 hours ago
OBSERVER STAFF
Bluewater Health has temporarily shut down a patient unit due to a surge in respiratory illness.
Additional infection control procedures have been implemented at the Norman Site in the Cognitively Complex Continuing Care Unit (3SCC).
A confirmed diagnosis is not yet available, but affected patients failed the hospital's screen for febrile respiratory illness (FRI). Hospital staff are working with the Community Health Services Department on specimen testing, and affected patients will continue to be monitored and reviewed daily.
On Friday, visitation to the 25-bed unit was restricted to one designated support person to prevent further transmission. The restrictions will continue until all patients are symptom-free for a seven-day period. Family members of all the patients on the unit have been notified.
Procedures implemented on the unit, in addition to those begun in October as part of the hospital's Pandemic Influenza Plan, include:
? enhanced cleaning;
? patients will not be transferred into the unit; only those being discharged directly to home will be released; and
? all staff caring for the affected patients will wear gowns, gloves and masks.
"Whenever there is a cluster of people experiencing respiratory symptoms and with the increased risk of pH1N1 this year, we implement control procedures quickly to reduce the chances that others may become ill," said Dr. Martin Lees, Chief of Professional Staff.
To prevent the spread of infection, all patients, families and visitors are asked to be aware of the following when coming to hospital:
<!-- Updated by Sunjoyo on July 18, 2008, as per Mantis Bug Request on July 17, 2008--><!-- Hide the above panel if there's a banner zone but no ad --><SCRIPT type=text/javascript> $(document).ready( function() { if ($("#banZone")[0]) { //find out where the end of the initial script tag is. var cutoff = $("#banZone").html().toLowerCase().replace(/ /g, "").replace(/\r\n/g, "").indexOf("/script>") + 8; var adzoneHTML = $("#banZone").html().toLowerCase().replace(/ /g, "").replace(/\r\n/g, "").substring(cutoff); //get the remaining substring. Take the first six characters of that. var banzone = adzoneHTML.substring(0, 6); //If there is no banner data associated to that zone, the substring found //above will contain the closing div tag of the banner. If it has data, //there will be something else in its place. If no data, hide the banner. if (banzone == '</div>') { $("#banZone").css("display", "none"); } } }); </SCRIPT>
? Signage directing patients who have arrived with respiratory symptoms to clean their hands and put on a mask.
? Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are available at all hospital entrances and throughout departments. Staff, patients, families and visitors are expected to clean their hands often. Instructions for proper hand hygiene are posted.
? All patients that come for services at Bluewater Health are screened for influenza-like illness.
? Any patient that fails the screen and/or a clinical assessment is treated as a possible influenza case. Possible influenza cases will be asked to wear a mask, may be asked to have a swab taken for testing, may be admitted based on the severity of illness or sent home with self-care instructions.
? Visitors on all units, except 3SCC, are limited to two (2) designated, consistent support persons per patient. People who are sick are asked to not visit hospitalized patients.
http://theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2186079