My hospital just called a code yellow infectious disease code overhead

[rainbow4321]

Parkland Hospital in Dallas, our county hospital.

Specifically it's on the floor where one of our outpatient clinics is...code yellow being emergency response. They used the initials ID instead of saying infectious disease so odds are the general public has no clue.
Word is it's related to swine flu.
This could royally suck if it's someone actually with it. We're the size of a small city in the middle of the day between patients (in and outpatient), staff, visitors, people that just hang out.
So anyone wandering around or heading to that clinic has been around a shitload of people.
I'll ask around for details after lunch...I'm in a separate building near the hospital but someone should know.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Of course, they don't want a panic

stay safe

[WI_DEM]

2. I work in an ER in WI and we are getting folks in here with sniffles who think they may have the

swine flu.

[seabeyond]

4. isnt it a bitch. that wobbly line of should i, shouldnt i. i mean

i am not into going to doctor for me or kids and prefer letting nature take it course and heal. on the other hand, how shitty would a parent feel if they didnt take care of something that could have been taken care of.

[hedgehog]

9. From the CDC:

Get medical care right away if the sick person at home:

* has difficulty breathing or chest pain
* has purple or blue discoloration of the lips
* is vomiting and unable to keep liquids down
* has signs of dehydration such as dizziness when standing, absence of urination, or in infants, a lack of tears when they cry
* has seizures (for example, uncontrolled convulsions)
* is less responsive than normal or becomes confused

http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/guidance_homecare.htm

In children emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:

* Fast breathing or trouble breathing
* Bluish skin color
* Not drinking enough fluids
* Not waking up or not interacting
* Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
* Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough
* Fever with a rash

In adults, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:

* Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
* Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
* Sudden dizziness
* Confusion
* Severe or persistent vomiting
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. I just called the doc and made an appt for Friday if my kids are not better. This is been going on

for almost 2 weeks now with the younger one. (I doubt it is swine flu, but it certainly is unpleasant.)

[hedgehog]

17. Years ago, I took my 18 month old kid in because he had a nagging

cough. I knew that antibiotics wouldn't do anything but he was too young for OTC cough relief and the poor kid was practically bouncing off the floor. When I got there, they grabbed him at once and gave him a shot of epinephrine.

Turns out he was in the midst of a full blown asthma attack. How was I to know? My brothers used to cough like that all winter when we were kids!

[GreenPartyVoter]

24. My years ago story is that my 18 mo was in pain and grabbing his head. Hubby said it was teeth but

i wasn't so sure. Took him to the ER and it turned out to be a double ear infection.

Like you said you just never know, esp when they are too little to talk about what is hurting them. :(

[bicentennial_baby]

18. 3 confirmed cases in Maine

http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2009/04/29/swine_flu_confirmed_in_maine/

[GreenPartyVoter]

22. Well if that's what we have, it's not nearly as bad as the influenza bouts

I had in the past. (But I am still not sure this is it simply because of the real lack of respiratory piece. Sinus headaches and a barely runny nose at the most.)

[seabeyond]

33. that is an excellent post. thank you hodgehog. i appreciate. really hard

when you have kids

[HowHasItComeToThis]

COOTIES

[madrchsod]

12. with the absolutely crappy weather here in illinois and wisconsin

it`s no wonder people are thinking it`s the swine flu.... i "love" crappy spring weather in the midwest.

forecast for the next two days.... MORE RAIN

[moc]

3. Crap. Wash those hands!

I'm up the street across the street from St. Paul.

[bdamomma]

5. exactly, working in a hospital they place so much importance

on handwashing.

[FedUpWithIt All]

6. Be safe rainbow4321 and remember that the cases confirmed in the US have mostly been mild.

:hug:

[rainbow4321]

37. Thank you,,,we all are taking extra precautions...extra degermer around,

increased handwashing and keeping an eye out for patients showing symptoms before they start wandering around the clinic.
I trust the hospital to take the right steps..mainly because it is the county hospital and in an interview this weekend, someone with the county health department sounded pretty pissed at the CDC giving out information SLOWLY to communities..saying "we are NOT waiting on the CDC to do what needs to be done". The county initiated checking the population that takes the TX-Mexico bus routes, noting THAT source alone seemed to be getting ignored by people on the national level.

[Warpy]

7. Not surprising

but it could be a kid with chicken pox, too.

Shoot, it could be a lot of things.

So far, this flu seems to be following the pattern of an ordinary flu, at least here in the US.

Just wash your hands before you touch your face.

[bdamomma]

23. and cough into your elbow.

[Warpy]

27. That's so second nature to me after being a nurse

for a zillion years that I never think to mention it.

Thanks.

[uppityperson]

34. My young adult kid did that the other day and it took me aback

that he had picked it up from my doing that as a nurse. He looked at me oddly when I mentioned it, rather "duh mom" sort of look

[kestrel91316]

8. Relax. Somebody with brown skin probably came in with a cough and fever.

Until somebody can show me numbers that prove this is more deadly than normal flu, I am not gonna get all het up, personally.

Flu is generally most contagious if you are within 3 ft of a person with it, or touch a contaminated object and then touch your nose. Hopsital staff should be well-trained in infectious disease measures - this is basic stuff.

[RB TexLa]

13. At Parkland in Dallas? I'd wager that is not a noticeable event.

[rainbow4321]

10. Update: entire hospital/outpatient clinic on code yellow

There was a positive swine flu in the outpatient clinic. All clinics who get a pt showing any symptoms are to divert the patients to the main ER at Parkland for testing immediately. ER waiting room is stockpiled with degermer stuff for patients to use (like that will help at the point??). Keep in mind this ER is packed under normal circumstances and was recently investigated for wait times of 24 hours or more...including someone who died while waiting for care.
This is going to be so fucked up it's not funny.

[Sigh Sister]

16. How did they get the results so fast?

I thought it took several days.

[kestrel91316]

21. I assume a quickie screening test, to be followed with slower

confirmatory testing.

Screening tests do have some tradeoff between speed and accuracy, some being prone to false positives, some to false negatives. In feline medicine I see false positive Feline Immunodeficiency Virus results, but virtually never with Feline Leukemia Virus. I don't remember exactly why this is, but it is.

[Dorian Gray]

28. It does

my Father in Law is waiting for test results. (He's sick with a flu.... not sure if it's the Swine Flu or not.) He gets results tomorrow from the CDC in Atlanta.

[Shell Beau]

19. I would hate to be in that ER waiting room say with migraine or something.

x(

I HATE this. I hate to be freaked out. I am trying not to be, but I worry about my little baby.

[w8liftinglady]

35. even in the sticks(Ennis) there has been a case

BTW-I worked at Parkland from 1990-1995.

[rainbow4321]

36. You see the latest..Forth Worth school district closing down til May 8th

Wonder if DISD or any of the surrounding suburban districts will follow suit?
With all the testing that will be going on at Parkland (given that we are now sending ALL outpatients to the ER for testing) I'm betting in a few days we see a spike in the number of reported cases in Dallas County.
I can tell you right now, the patients we tell "we can't see you here, you HAVE to go to an ER of your choice to be seen"...will not go willingly. The ER has too much of a rep of long, long waits. The odds of them going will be slim, but as of today we are under hospital orders to not address their symptoms in the out patient clinics. At all. The only hope if is they have streamlines th process into some sort of assembly line setup where the people we send will be tested and treated in a reasonable time.

[Ilsa]

39. Rainbow, I was a volunteer in Med ER years ago before I became a nurse.

I moved from Dallas and left my volunteer job just as the new Med ER was being built. I suspect that is where all the possible cases will be triaged to.

That place was, and I'm sure still is, a madhouse. People got shot there. Women got raped in the hospital. Other forms of sexual assault occured on the postpartum unit. The place is a fucking zoo, but the best place in Dallas to get treated for an emergency. It was a real learning experience about humanity. I can remember being on my feet (running labs, cleaning shit, transporting patients, etc) for hours and finally having to leave at midnight, telling the nurses, "I have a paying job that I have to go to in the morning." I wouldn't trade my time there for anything.

Please stay safe. Good luck.

[lunatica]

14. Good luck Rainbow, and take care of yourself

[ChickMagic]

15. Oh just great. Hubby works near the outpatient clinic.

I'm in the Sprague building just across the breezeway. Is it the whole complex or just
clinical areas?

[derby378]

20. Hubby checking in

That clinic is on the floor above my office, but I think it's on the other side of the hospital. I informed my boss and co-workers, though, and we know where the masks are.

[rainbow4321]

26. Our email says that all outpt clinics will not see

Pts with upper respiratory symptoms or flu like symptoms at all. We have to direct them to the ER and keep documentation of who we send.
So as of now, it's all Parkland outpt clinics. Masks and degermer stuff offered to anyone entering waiting areas.
For those not familiar with Parkland layout, there are outpt clinics throughout the hospital as well as off campus. We have every kind of outpt clinic imagineable, specialty and primary care.

[Wiley50]

25. Parkland Hospital Is Historic! It's where JFK was pronounced dead

I just recently read an article from a link here about a surgeon who attended him

who is still there working/teaching.

Is it still the same ER or have they built another by now?

[derby378]

30. Parkland has been remodeled extensively since 1963

I think the original ER and surgical theater where JFK was worked on have been remodeled out of existence. The equipment used on JFK has been preserved by the Smithsonian, I believe, while some of the other medical artifacts and archives have been relegated to some dark hole under armed guard somewhere in the Midwest.

[MercutioATC]

29. Are they issuing first responders antivirals?

Just curious...

[rainbow4321]

31. Not here, not yet

No word on that. The hospital has set up a command center today since it is a level 3 code yellow ---in this case it's "illness affecting the community". They are going to give us twice a day updates and monitor patient traffic/whereabouts and supplies used for preventative measures (gloves, masks, degermers)m Command staff is made of an administrator on call, a public relations officer and someone from our police department.
No word on meds being given staff, though...just instructions to call our manager if we show symptoms.
Big red signs are going up on doors with stop sign pictures telling visitors with symptoms to not enter the hospital and such.

[MercutioATC]

32. Thanks for the info.

It seems a no-brainer to me to administer antivirals to first responders in hot areas, but there may be a drawback that I'm overlooking.

[FloridaJudy]

38. Here "Code Yellow" is a potentially violent situation

I pictured your poor flu patient being confronted with a dozen burly security guards toting tazers...