A few months or so back I had the mis-fortune to visit a family member in hospital. After sitting with the patient for some 10-15mins a nurse came from behind an other bed/cubical and told me the room is under quarantine and I needed to put on gloves and a gown. Sending me out of the room so told me the PPE was on a trolley at the door. I should mention the double doors to the room were wide open, and yes indeed there was a trolley with this PPE and an A4 size sign on the wall to gown up room under quarantine. Feeling embarrassed as a systems specialist I was angry with myself not noticing the sign and trolley of PPE. After my visit driving home I thought wait hang on. The doors to the room were wide open, The PPE trolley was against the wall between 2 rooms and the A4 sign was on the same wall. Walk around a hospital and the walls are covered in A4 papers blowing in the wind. The issue here is not my failure to stop and gown up. The failure here is I should not have been able to gain access to the room in the first place.
Come forward some 6-7 months. My wife and I were visiting hospital again (same family member, different reason). We arrive and walked into her room we were siting and chatting for 10-15 mins or so when the nurse stuck her head in the door. "everything OK' she said. I asked for an update on the patient. That was the full interaction with this nurse. I had to leave the room for a few mins and when I cam back my wife was outside the room downing up. She asked if I had seen the sign and trolley. Again I had not. We gowned up and waited for permission to return to the room. Standing in the passage/hall I asked my wife to read the blue sign on the door behind her. [THIS DOOR MUST BE CLOSED AT ALL TIMES], really because it was not closed then. Again supporting the administration of signage and systems management is lacking in critical operations. To top it off 3 meters left of the open door was a large clear PVC document holder. It was labelled 'EMERGENCY EVACUATION MAP' the map was not there and the holder was empty.
The following day I returned to visit the patient and saw the nurse come out of the room gloves on only. No big deal the medical staff always glove up when in contact with a patient. as the trolley and sign were still outside I asked if I needed to gown up, it the room still under quarantine. I was told yes and gown up. Now remember nurse just left the room, gloves only on no gown. So I gowned up and visited the patient. 15mins into the visit the Dr and two Student Dr's wonder into the room carried out blood pressure tests etc:. Not one of them wearing gloves or gowns, no PPE at all.
Should internal management systems audits of public facilities be accessible to the general public that have an interest into policy and procedures?
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