Hospital backtracks on blaming computer: Ebola patient's travel history WAS available to EVERYBODY

[pnwmom]

So, it wasn't a nurse's fault. And it wasn't the computer software. So that leaves . . . .

Maybe the people who are speculating this had something to do with lack of insurance are correct.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/texas-ebola-case/story?id=25962123

Duncan arrived at the emergency room on September 25 with a low-grade fever and complained of abdominal pain. Although he disclosed to a nurse he had traveled from Liberia, he was still released with antibiotics rather than being put into an isolation ward at the hospital, according to the CDC.

On Friday, the hospital issued a statement saying that the entire team treating Duncan had access to the information about his travel history and denied that there was a flaw in the way its physician and nursing workflow interacted.

"As a standard part of the nursing process, the patient's travel history was documented and available to the full care team in the electronic health record (EHR), including within the physician’s workflow," read the statement. "There was no flaw in the EHR in the way the physician and nursing portions interacted related to this event."

SNIP

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-10-04/hospital-explanation-of-ebola-man-release-opens-questions

The changing message came after the hospital faced criticism from other medical professionals about the actions taken prior to the patient’s release. Ashish Jha, a health policy professor at Harvard University’s School of Public Health in Boston, said no matter what, the doctor responsible should have double-checked the man’s travel history before he was sent back out into the community.

“There are so many flaws in the logic of ‘The EMR system made us to do it,’” Jha said in a telephone interview yesterday, referring to the hospital’s initial statement. “When a patient walks in the ER with a fever, the standard question is ‘Have you traveled?’ I don’t understand why that question wasn’t asked by the physician.”

[uppityperson]

1. I wonder that their patient/staffing ratio was, how over worked they were. Not excusing

but wondering how that fits into the picture.

[hollysmom]

2. Always blame the damn computer

the computer is the only one who does not care about politics and does not point the finger back at people, it only presents what is given to it. Poor baby.

Well, I was sick and tired hearing computer error at work when we all know it was the spec writer who was wrong.

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. Exactly right

Even if the pre-retraction story were true, that wouldn't be a computer error. It would be an error by the administration and software team and anyone overseeing the software project. If an architect forgets to put a bathroom on the 5th floor of a building, we don't call it a "building error." We say the architect fucked up.