How important are solid policies and procedures, including clinical best practices? This is something that became very popular in the news with the identification of three cases of Ebola here in the US. But it’s also something that I’ve encountered personally over the summer as my mother had her knees replaced, my brother experienced a cardiac scare, and I prepared for a procedure.

While you probably don’t have to worry about contracting the Ebola virus in your office, the situation in Texas demonstrates that you never know when you’ll be hit with an unexpected crisis.  How will you and your staff respond?
I received this link from one of my nursing friends. It’s an inside story from some registered nurses at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas who have familiarity with what occurred at the hospital following the positive Ebola infection of first the late Thomas Eric Duncan and then a registered nurse who cared for him Nina Pham.

We now know many more details of the Ebola story, but just because it’s out of the news doesn’t mean the headaches are over for that Texas hospital, or any other health providers who may find themselves in a crisis situation.
It has served as a wake up call to many that usable Policies and Procedures are not just a binder full of papers that sits on a shelf.
Another situation that occurred for me personally, that demonstrated the importance and efficacy of documentation, policy & procedure, and overall public and provider information regarding best practices in health care was when my brother experienced chest pains on the train. He recognized them, his seat companion responded appropriately when he noticed, the taxi driver who overheard him telling his wife he was experiencing chest pains sped his way to the hospital, and when he presented in the ER, as soon as he uttered the words ‘chest pain’ he was whisked off, stripped of his shirt, hooked up to an EKG and given an aspirin.
My mother had her knee replaced and every person on the medical team, from the surgeons to the housekeeping staff were obsessed with avoiding falls. Every piece of equipment, cleaning supplies, warnings, patient and staff awareness was riveted on making sure the patient didn’t fall and screw up that new knee.
I’m having a procedure done next week as an outpatient. One of the biggest risks identified has been infection, so there are many different protocols to follow to minimize the chance of infection.
We can extend this now to the recent Ebola hysteria. I’ve said this before – there is no doubt about it – I think if you had asked anyone where Ebola was likely to show up they’d say NY or CA. I highly doubt ANYONE would have expected it to show up in the middle of TX.

I was at Peconic Bay Medical Center recently, and they had a guard with a questionnaire at the front doors with big signs to attempt to identify anyone who may need medical screening for Ebola. So the message is getting across, and these best practice protocols are being put in place. 

The doctor in NY who was diagnosed was identified immediately because the best practice for Doctor’s Without Borders is to make sure health care workers who return from an Ebola area take their temperatures twice a day until they are past the incubation period. As a result, this doctor was identified, isolated and treated very quickly.
In the meantime, each one of us has an exponentially higher chance of dying from a bad egg/chicken (salmonella) or the flu or in a motor vehicle accident than even contracting Ebola, much less dying from it.
There is never a good time for developing protocols and documentation and delivering training. And 99% of the time, you’ll be fine. It’s that time when you really need it that people will start criticizing, condemning and blaming (and of course, since this is the good old US of A, lining up the lawsuits) YOU for NOT having prepared.
Where are the holes in your practice? Documented clinical protocols? HIPAA privacy training for your staff? Coding and billing errors by your physician, coders or billing team?
Put on your calendar to tackle these one at a time. Compliance is more than another set of pesky rules – it can be a matter of life and death!