February 11, 2008
CENSUS AT DAYTON CHILDREN’S SPIKES: About three weeks ago, we began to see a dramatic increase in the number of influenza isolates and a steady rise
in the number of RSV isolates. Of note, the CDC recently reported that as
many as 40 percent of influenza isolates this year are strains of
influenza A and B that are dissimilar from the vaccine strains. As you
know, the decision to incorporate specific strains is made in the late
winter, of the preceding winter. This may explain the observation by some
clinicians that they are seeing significant numbers of immunized
individuals who have clinical influenza.
The impact of this is that we are seeing dramatically more patients, both
in the outpatient setting and the inpatient units. The emergency
department has seen over 2,275 patients in the first 10 days of February,
while the two urgent care centers have seen 1,150 more patients. The
average inpatient daily census has exceeded 100 children with several days
at or above 110 patients. The inpatient generalist team has activated the
"purple" team, the third inpatient attending coverage. This patient load
carries over to every area in the hospital from the lab to pharmacy to
dietary.
We ask for your patience during this very busy time. Please advise
families that our staff is trying to provide care as quickly and as
efficiently as possible. However, there may be times when there are
delays discharging a child, turning over a room or getting orders written.
You can help by explaining to families how busy it is and that we are
working together to care for their children.
We expect that the current influenza outbreak will last an additional six
weeks. Predictably we will then see at least four to six more weeks of
endemic disease due to RSV. Please note we have also implemented
visitation guidelines for family members. When we see these kinds of
respiratory pathogens and when the census grows, it become increasingly
difficult to accommodate unlimited visitation. Thank you for your help
and patience. Questions? Call Tom Murphy, MD, at 937-641-5871.
GASTROENTEROLOGY AND LIPID DEPARTMENT: The gastroenterology and lipid
department at Dayton Children’s will begin incorporating electronic health
records on March 5, 2008. We have been preparing for this over the past
six months and are hopeful the transition will go smoothly. Electronic
health records will allow us to take better care of our patients and help
us improve the timeliness and quality of our communications with you. We
have had to temporarily decrease the normal amount of patients we see in
clinic in order to allow the physicians and staff to become comfortable
using our new system in an efficient and timely manner. We will make every
effort to ensure this does not significantly impact our accessibility. If
you have any concerns or issues please contact Adam Mezoff, MD, through
his office coordinator at 937-641-3090, option 4, then 1.
Thank you for your continued referrals and the opportunity to help care
for your patients.
CME online
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