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Originally Posted by Laker14
I appreciate your response, and your years of first hand experience in the trenches. You know more about this than I, obviously. I see your point, that in critical emergency situations, and in triage, patients have to be treated without the benefit of knowing if they are infectious or not. But isn't your scenario similar to riding a bus, subway or going to an indoor concert. I'm not suggesting that separating infectious from non-infectious care will provide total isolation, but doesn't it make sense that once known, outside of the realm of emergent critical care, such separation would serve to reduce cross infection from inside the facility?
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If a patient is diagnosed after arrival, there are protocols, for isolation rooms, in the hospital, in ED, and the OR.
Every facility has a epidemiologist and staff to put protocol in place, and those I have know personally take their positions to the highest level. Difference today is the air quality of the isolation rooms has greatly improved over the last 40 years.
“Do No Harm” is for a healthy patient, the undiagnosed, and the diagnosed.
If a patient has been diagnosed prior,and admitted by their personal physician, the facility is given the information by the physician, prior to patient arrival, plus their EMRs are available to the staff, which is standard protocol.
However, the patient comes to the ED then to a procedure or OR, the patient may not be capable or aware.
Now if the patient is a repeater, staff knows the patient so well, protocol is put in place soon as patient arrives. You know that patient so well, you are like a adopted family.
You might want to speak to your PCP about your concerns if you don’t feel safe going to the doctors office, outpatient surgery center, or a hospital. Then you can ask for the protocol that the facilities have in place, and about cross contamination. Facilities would never be able to operate a separate facility as you are suggesting. Part of the issue during Covid was people were afraid to go to a hospital, call EMS, continue chemo, and even if they were having chest pain.
After 40 plus years In healthcare, fear has never been about what I have been exposed to. If it was then you chose the wrong profession.