Industry communicators are re-thinking ER guidelines after a teenage boy died last week just steps away from a Chicago hospital. Hospital policy prevented ER workers from leaving the premises to treat the shooting victim.
Chicago-based Ravenswood Hospital still is receiving image blows for not coming to the rescue of a 15-year-old boy who had been shot by gang members. The controversial issue cuts to the core of whether life-saving common sense should prevail over ER policy that requires personnel to stay inside the hospital to protect its patients.
By Thursday, Ravenswood's President John E. Blair revoked the policy, a move that is critical from a crisis communications standpoint because it immediately responds to a tragic situation.
Additionally, nationwide, similar policies are being reviewed.
"People are doing a lot of soul searching and asking 'if this had happened in our hospital, what would we have done?'" said Richard Wade, vice president of communications for the American Hospital Association on day three of the national coverage which included stories on CNN, USA Today and "The Today Show."
Milli Striegel, Ravenswood's director of community relations still was in the throes of fielding a high volume of media calls on a regional and national level when HPRMN spoke with her last week.
She says the hospital crisis strategy involves:
- Responding the media as quickly as possible; emphasizing that the policy has been rescinded;
- Establishing the parameters of the new ER policy; and
- Focusing more attention on the internal audience which is "devastated" by the incident.
Other Chicago area hospitals had to respond to the "ER policy issue, fielding questions primarily from local media.
And the views were mixed.
For instance, John Easton, director of media relations at the University of Chicago Hospital said that although they don't have a specific written policy on the issue, ER workers know to go out and treat patients.
Mercy Hospital challenged earlier claims that Ravenswood's policy was an industry standard. Judy Traynor, Mercy's manager of press relations who spoke with a radio station and two local newspapers, said such guidelines are not industry-wide and that Mercy has treated several patients on its campus in need of trauma care. (Ravenswood Hospital, Millie Striegel, 773/878-4300, ext. 2626; Mercy Hospital, Judy Traynor, 312/567-2000; U C Hospital, 773/702-6241)