So we had not one, but two different patients today who came in with bedbugs. Found them on the first guy and scanned the other on a different scanner to keep them from spreading, and then found out the second one had them too. To keep the pests contained, infection control shut down our entire department and now we have to wait to be cleared by the pest control company before we can resume scanning patients. We should hopefully be cleared by tomorrow.
All of our other outpatients had to be rescheduled, which thankfully was only a couple people, but still frustrating to have to do. The three camera rooms, two bathrooms, three patient waiting areas, and registration have to now be inspected and (possibly) treated. Pretty much the entire wing of the hospital is down to necessary staff only until cleared. And I had to tell the ER we were shut down and couldn't do a STAT scan with no idea when or if we'll be up and running anytime soon.
And the real fun part? They both knew they had bedbugs! The first one was afraid we were gonna report the infestation. Seriously, between HIPAA and the fact having bedbugs is gross but not illegal, who are we going to tell it was him specifically? I've been through the bedbug thing with friends so it's not that I'm unsympathetic and definitely don't believe someone needs to be a hermit, but for crying out loud at least shake out the clothes you're going to wear if you're going out somewhere. Or run things through the dryer. Whatever you can do to keep it from spreading and shutting down essential services to other people.
All of our other outpatients had to be rescheduled, which thankfully was only a couple people, but still frustrating to have to do. The three camera rooms, two bathrooms, three patient waiting areas, and registration have to now be inspected and (possibly) treated. Pretty much the entire wing of the hospital is down to necessary staff only until cleared. And I had to tell the ER we were shut down and couldn't do a STAT scan with no idea when or if we'll be up and running anytime soon.
And the real fun part? They both knew they had bedbugs! The first one was afraid we were gonna report the infestation. Seriously, between HIPAA and the fact having bedbugs is gross but not illegal, who are we going to tell it was him specifically? I've been through the bedbug thing with friends so it's not that I'm unsympathetic and definitely don't believe someone needs to be a hermit, but for crying out loud at least shake out the clothes you're going to wear if you're going out somewhere. Or run things through the dryer. Whatever you can do to keep it from spreading and shutting down essential services to other people.
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