Hospital Emergency Room Takes Steps To Prevent Spread Of Influenza

DANBURY — As a precaution for the winter flu season, the Emergency Department at Danbury Hospital has instituted a “respiratory etiquette” program to better protect patients, visitors, and health care staff from the flu and other respiratory-acquired illnesses.

The program calls for hospital staff to request that people arriving in the Emergency Department with respiratory symptoms “cover their cough” by wearing respiratory masks over their mouths and noses to minimize the spread of infections, according to Patrick Broderick, MD, chairman of the hospital’s Department of Emergency Medicine.

“Both the limited supply of flu vaccine and the increased seasonal risk for respiratory illness have made this a critical patient and staff safety issue,” Dr Broderick said. “We have to do everything possible to protect our patients and staff. The best treatment that can be employed during the cold and flu season is a thorough preventative medicine program. By educating our patients and creating a heightened level of awareness with our staff and the community, we hopefully can positively impact those we care for,” he said.

Dr Broderick explained that the “cover your cough” program is the newest initiative related to the hospital’s longstanding infection control program, which sets universal standards and practices for preventing, monitoring, and managing infections. Beginning last year, the Emergency Department team posted signs and brochures to educate people about preventing colds and flu, but this year they are taking a more active approach to identify people who may need to take additional steps to protect themselves and others.

“We have actively prepared for this enhancement to our infection control practices over the last several months to facilitate a safer environment for care and demonstrate our continued commitment to the health and well-being of our community,” Dr Broderick said. “This preventative measure, along with appropriate instructions regarding hand washing and cough etiquette, will hopefully minimize the risk to patients, visitors, and staff in the coming months.”

Dr Broderick said the hospital does not want to alarm patients and visitors if they see other people in the Emergency Department wearing respiratory masks. The Emergency Department has placed appropriate signage in its waiting room, as well as alcohol-based hand wash gels, tissues, and informational brochures for the patients and visitors to use while in the waiting room. “These precautionary measures are designed to protect everyone from the unnecessary spread of respiratory illnesses. We hope that the community will embrace this effort to assist us in curtailing the damaging effects of the cold and flu season, especially for our more vulnerable patients,” Dr Broderick said.

With more than 65,000 annual visits, the hospital’s Emergency Department is the third busiest in Connecticut. The hospital has been approved as a Level II trauma center since 1997. Earlier this year, the Emergency Department dedicated its newly renovated Galante Pediatric Suite, which offers four themed treatment rooms designed especially for children. The rooms allow hospital professionals to deliver state-of-the-art medical care in a warmer, more welcoming environment for children to lessen the fear that may be associated with an emergency visit to the hospital.

Cover Your Cough

Danbury Hospital offers the following tips to help prevent respiratory illness this holiday season and throughout the winter months:

Serious respiratory illnesses like influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), whooping cough, and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) are spread by coughing or sneezing and unclean hands.

To help stop the spread of germs, cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. If you do not have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your upper sleeve, not your hands. Put your used tissue in the wastebasket.

Clean your hands after coughing or sneezing. Wash with soap and water, or clean with an alcohol-based hand cleaner.