Manila Doctors Hospital
MDH Task Force SARS
Date :May 2, 2003
FROM :Dr. Reynaldo O. Joson
Chair, MDH Task Force SARS
RE :MDH SARS Preparedness, Policies
of Interest to Medical Staff, other SARS Matters
Regarding
SARS, this is to inform you that MDH is on top of the situation. As early as March 28, 2003, general policies
and guidelines were in place and communicated to you through a memo bearing the
same date. An MDH Task Force SARS was
created by Assistant Hospital Director Wanninger on April 2, 2003 with yours
truly designated as the Chair.
The
Task Force has been meeting almost every week formulating policies, procedures,
and strategies, supervising, coordinating, and evaluating implementation. A forum on SARS was held last April 15, 2003
with a very good attendance from all sectors of the hospital. A 3 in 1 triage/holding area/isolation room
at the Emergency Room has been operational since April 28, 2003. Procedural guidelines at the ER are in place
and guidelines in preventing SARS transmission have been put up by the
Department of Radiology, Nursing Service, and Laboratory. I can say with
confidence that MDH is adequately prepared to meet the challenge of SARS.
Let
me reiterate the general policy of the hospital: NO admission of SARS patients
in MDH.
The
ER is already well-instructed to implement this policy. I would like to reiterate this policy to
consultants who admit patients from private clinics.
To
prevent any error in admitting patients with possible SARS, the admitting
section personnel will be trained and authorized to detect such patients
through an MDH Task Force SARS screening questionnaire. They are also authorized to seek the help of
the medical or pediatric residents and MDH Consultants on SARS (Dr. Melecia
Velmonte and Dr. Cecilia Montalban) who will have the final say on whether a
particular patient is a SARS SUSPECT or not.
Communication, of course, will be done with the attending physicians of
the patients in question.
The
MDH Task Force SARS Screening Questionnaire has been distributed to all active
staff last April 11, 2003. I appeal to
all consultants to use this questionnaire in screening for SARS for
standardization and uniformity purposes.
If you need copies of this questionnaire, request them from the ER
personnel.
At
the ER and at the floors, there may be situations wherein there will be
differences in opinion between two health care professionals whether a patient
is SARS SUSPECT or not. The arbitration
in such situations rests on the MDH Consultants on SARS, who are Dr. Melecia
Velmonte and/or Dr. Cecilia Montalban, who will have the final say on the
diagnosis. In this regard, all patients
declared as NON-SARS in such situations should be rendered the medical services
they need without any degree and any form of discrimination and ostracism.
There
may be situations in which SARS SUSPECT patients consult at the ER with a
non-pulmonary problem needing urgent treatment. Examples, trauma needing urgent operative treatment; myocardial
infarction; seizure. Since these are
life-threatening emergencies, the patients should be rendered the medical
services they urgently need and by the specialists on duty and on call. The staff taking care of these patients
should wear personal protective equipment which will be provided by the
hospital.
Policies
on assigning pulmonary and infectious disease consultants to admitted SARS
SUSPECT patients
Hopefully
none, there may be situations where the hospital may be forced to admit SARS SUSPECT
patients. In such situations, to take
care of the SARS problem, the patient is assigned or referred to a pulmonary
and an infectious disease specialist of the attending physician’s choice,
patient’s choice, or on a decking basis.
The
hospital will make all personal protective equipments available for use by the
staff taking care of SARS patients.
MDH
Task Force SARS formulates policies, procedures, and strategies for the entire
hospital to be approved and authorized by the top management and to be
implemented by all the departments and staff of the hospital. Departments may formulate policies,
procedures, and strategies on the prevention and control of SARS. However, these should emanate from those of
the hospital’s general policies. They
must be in consonance with and not in conflict to those of the hospital. Any department’s policies, procedures, and
strategies should have prior approval of the MDH Task Force SARS before being
enforced and implemented.
For
more information on the MDH Task Force SARS, please visit the website: http://xsarsmdh.tripod.com
We
welcome any suggestions. Please submit or relay them to our Public Relations
Officer or to my office.
Thank
you very much. I look forward to an
utmost cooperation from all medical staff to prevent and control SARS in MDH.
Reynaldo
O. Joson, MD, MHA, MHPEd, MS Surg
Chair
MDH
Task Force SARS
Noted
by:
Dr.
Dante Morales
Medical
Director
Ms.
Rita Wanninger
Assistant
Hospital Director