Questions and answers for ASHE members

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QUESTION: Would someone be able to share an infant-abduction exercise that they have performed?

Our infant-security program has several layers of security. One of our drills is to make sure departments are covering an assigned egress point, and know the time taken to reach this assigned area. We also do a second drill, which is more involved. In our last one, we used an infant cardiopulmonary-resuscitation mannequin and attached an infant-security tag to it. We used an access-control badge one of our support departments failed to properly secure and, thereby, were able to leave the unit. It took two people to be able to get off the unit; the first used the borrowed access-control badge to hold the access-control door open and the second had the mannequin, which activated the infant alarm. Previously, I had timed every possible route from the obstetrics floor to an exit point out of the hospital. We utilized the shortest point and were able to exit the building. This drill provided several good opportunities to improve security, which obviously is the point.

QUESTION: The medical-gas hoses in our emergency department trauma room have a reel device and hang from the ceiling for easy reach. Doctors complain that the hoses, which are adjacent to a wall, interfere and distract them while treating a patient at the head of the bed. Can the hose ends be contained within a bracket to hold them against the wall provided that it does not impede use in any way?

It sounds as though these hoses [already] have retractors installed. It may be that they need to be adjusted so they pull the hoses up higher. If the problem with the existing retractors is that they are not strong enough to pull the hose high enough, then try replacing it with a dual-reel, heavy-duty retractor. Your local medical gas company should be able to help you. There is no code that I am aware of that would preclude the installation of something to keep them out of harm’s way.

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