Dive Brief:
- Thomas Eric Duncan, the first US patient diagnosed with Ebola, is now in isolation after going to a hospital and being released back into the community. Duncan told Texas Health Presbyterian staff about his symptoms and a recent trip to Liberia, but the hospital's staff diagnosed him with a common viral infection and provided an antibiotic.
- According to the hospital, a flaw in its electronic medical record resulted in the error. "We have identified a flaw in the way the physician and nursing portions of our electronic health records (EHR) interacted in this specific case. In our electronic health records, there are separate physician and nursing workflows," Texas Health officials said in a statement. "As designed, the travel history would not automatically appear in the physician's standard workflow."
- Texas Presbyterian was reportedly prepared to deal with Ebola, but hospital officials have said that the information provided by Duncan was not provided to the full care team. He was released because of the lapse in communication. Public health workers are now tracking and monitoring Duncan's steps and the people he came into contact with while symptomatic. The number is expected to be around 80.
Dive Insight:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has sent out an Ebola checklist to help hospitals prepare for the conditions. Some hospitals across the country are asking every patient in the emergency room about recent travel, no matter what their symptoms.
This is not the first challenge hospitals have faced when it comes to treating patients with Ebola. Emory University Hospital in Atlanta had to find a way to properly dispose of the 40 bags of waste created by patients that were treated there in September. When Stericycle, Emory's disposal company, refused to handle the waste, the hospital had to sterilize it on site. The company agreed to remove the materials after that process.