The epic battle with my bête noir, Five North continues. Their latest tactic in patient avoidance? Over the weekend, they decided only to take patients with clear swabs.
Let me explain. As an infection control practice, to prevent the spread of nasties like MRSA and ESBL we collect nasal and rectal swabs on certain classes of patients thought to be at high risk of carrying these pathogens. Five North was requiring proof that all swabbed patients be cleared before accepting them for admission.
Of course, this is utter bullhockey. 5 North just makes things up, and then gets away with it. Nevertheless, on the weekend, the only recourse was to call the manager on-call.
So we called.
The manager-on-call was, in real life, Manager of Stores or Housekeeping or some other non-clinical department. In other words, both clueless and useless.
Oh well, she said, Let the patients stay in Emerg. Infection Control can sort it out on Monday. And of course, Infection Control needed to “assess the situation” in person before coming to a determination. We were screwed.
So 5 North managed to stay below its census while we were drowning in patients.
Ha ha, take that, Emergency Department!
And how did this serve quality patient care? You can probably guess.
Those Emergency Blues 
#1 by Maha on Thursday 08 July 2010 - 1525
WTF BS is that?? I’m so angry that I’m having a hard time typing! I can’t believe they actually got away with pulling crap like that. Is refusing patients with swabs pending a hospital policy? I have to stop commenting because I know this comment will turn into a whole lot of profanities…
#2 by Zoe on Thursday 08 July 2010 - 2322
How does someone like that get to be admin-on-call???? It is utter bullhockey (putting it mildly) and I hope this was written up for whoever from 5N spewed that BS and the shite can hit the fan on Monday all over that person. I know it doesn’t heip you now, but sometimes, knowing the poop is raining down on someone is more satisfying than is probably reasonable.
#3 by torontoemerg on Friday 09 July 2010 - 0838
Well, you know, reports were filed [yawn], and I suppose someone, somewhere is getting the administrative beating. . .
#4 by Ali on Wednesday 11 January 2012 - 1229
oh. my god. As a ward nurse, I apologize profusely for those unprofessional jerks. I have always tried to take pts from the ER ASAP, because it’s better to be on the ward than in the ER. Even if your ward bed is a hallway bed, or a stretcher squashed between two other beds in a semi private. It’s quieter and calmer.