US Ebola case: Dallas hospital admits ‘flawed’ response as officials scramble
Hazardous materials team arrives to clean Thomas Duncan’s apartment as officials work to rehouse other residents in the complex in Dallas
Lauren Gambino
TheGuardian.com
Friday 3 October 2014
Officials in Texas were still struggling to implement an effective strategy to manage the close associates of the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola outside Africa on Friday, as the hospital where he first presented himself admitted a “flawed” initial response.
A hazardous materials team arrived on Friday to clean the apartment where four people are under quarantine, a day after a cleaning crew was forced to leave, lacking the appropriate permit. State officials were working on a plan to rehouse the residents.
Sweat-stained sheets and towels remained in the apartment for four days since the Ebola sufferer, Liberian citizen Thomas Eric Duncan, was placed in isolation at the Texas Health Presbyterian hospital in Dallas.
The hospital said that due to a “flaw” in its electronic health record workflows, Duncan’s travel history was not relayed from the nurse to the doctor on his first visit to the hospital a week ago, which is why the medical team allowed Duncan to be sent home with a course of antibiotics.
“Protocols were followed by both the physician and the nurses. However, we have identified a flaw in the way the physician and nursing portions of our electronic health records (EHR) interacted in this specific case,” the hospital said in a statement.
“As a result, the hospital has changed the workflows to highlight a patient’s travel history, especially as it relates to Ebola-endemic countries in west Africa.”
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