WASHINGTON, DC - The House Energy and Commerce Committee today released documents obtained in its investigation of the ongoing Ebola outbreak. The documents were submitted to the committee by Texas Health Resources. One outlines the preparedness timeline from Aug. 1, 2014, through Sept. 24, 2014, and the other document details the sequence of events at Thomas Duncan’s first visit to the Emergency Department on Sept. 25, 2014.
PREPAREDNESS TIMELINE
The preparedness timeline indicates that on Aug. 1, 2014, one of the components of the response plan includes, “Electronic Health Record includes a travel history question that should be completed on every patient." The preparedness timeline goes through Sept. 24, 2014, just one day before Duncan first arrived at the Texas Presbyterian Hospital Emergency Department.
DUNCAN EMERGENCY ROOM TIMELINE
The second document indicates that Duncan first arrived at the Emergency Department at 10:37 p.m. Triage began for Duncan at 11:36 p.m., at which point, “Obtaining the patient’s travel history was not part of the triage nurses’ process on Sept. 25, 2014." The timeline later showed that there was an RN assessment from 12:33 to 12:44 a.m. At that point, “The nurse documents that Mr. Duncan ‘came from Africa 9/20/2014’" and “RN states she recalls the discussion because of how long the plane flight was. (She had personal experience with very long plane flights). Attached no further significance to this travel history."
The detailed timeline of events continues, “This information was not verbally communicated to the physician, as prompted by the EHR." The Emergency Department physician performed his evaluation of Duncan from 12:52 to 1:10 a.m. The timeline recalls that the physician did access the EHR, but, “The record does not show which information the physician read, only which information was available."
Watch the complete hearing online here.
Read the preparedness timeline online here and the sequence of events from Duncan’s first visit to Texas Presbyterian Hospital here.
