Practice Management Alert

Sleep easier at night knowing you have policies ready to implement.

The possibility of, say, a yellow jacket infestation of your practice may be so remote as to have never even entered your mind, but your practice should have protocols in place for more “passenger-friendly” pests like bed bugs. Knowing how you’ll respond to a bed bug sighting before one occurs is an important means of preventing an infestation, keeping staff and patients calm, and avoiding any stigma or reputation hits that could follow.

Recognize the Enemy

Unless you’ve had the misfortune to suspect you have a bed bug problem or to help someone who did, you may not know what differentiates these pests from other insects or how they move from one person to another.

One thing to keep in mind: You have to find a bed bug or its signs to be sure that you have them in your environment. Even if someone claims that she was bitten while at your practice, you cannot rely on the presence of a bite alone to determine that the perpetrator is a bed bug or that you have them around.

“Without specimens identified as bed bugs, a report of suspected bites does not necessarily mean a facility is bed bug infested. While skin markings may be consistent with bed bug bites (often circular, inflamed and somewhat linear in arrangement), other biting arthropods and environmental and medical conditions can produce similar markings. Visible reactions may not appear for two weeks after the bites. Many people show no skin markings at all, and the elderly and immune-compromised are known to experience lesser reactions to bites,” the Illinois Department of Public Health advises healthcare facilities.

It may be surprising, but some pest control experts who specialize in bed bugs utilize dogs to confirm the presence of bed bugs. If you have any concerns that you may be facing bed bugs, a quick canine inspection can offer peace of mind without incurring extravagant cost.

Make sure you have a designated protocol for reporting bed bugs, both for suspected presence and confirmed presence, the Illinois Department of Public Health says.

Assign one person in your facility the mantle of bed bug responsibility, and make sure that person knows the contact information for your practice’s pest control company and has the authority to bring someone in, as well as authorize treatment. Educate your staff on your practice’s protocol and make sure they know that immediacy is paramount. The steps you would need to take to prevent an infestation are much less costly than to control an infestation.

“Regular training can be a hugely beneficial addition to your bed bug prevention measures. Be sure to keep your staff up to date on everything your facility is doing to stop the spread of bed bugs, and be sure to let staff know they should feel encouraged to bring attention to infestations without fear of reprisals or punishment,” says JP Pest Services in Milford, New Hampshire.

Discover Bed Bugs? Do This

If bed bugs are discovered in an exam room, think about isolating the exposure.

“When bed bugs are discovered in a patient room, if possible, the patient(s) should be bathed or showered, clothes changed, and transferred to another room. Patient belongings, equipment and furnishings … should not leave the room until thorough inspection finds them bed bug free. Bedclothes should be carefully removed, tightly sealed in bags, put directly into a washer or dryer and dried on the hot setting for at least 20 minutes to kill all stages of bed bugs,” the Illinois Department of Public Health says.

When you’re on the prowl or trying to contain a situation, remember how the bed bugs move, what they like to eat, and where they like to shelter. They are wingless and cannot jump, so they need physical contact with continuous surfaces to move from one place to another. They can move from place to place via people or objects.

“If bed bugs are confirmed in personal belongings, the owner should be advised that their household may be infested. Seal potential bed bug access points to adjacent rooms, by filling gaps that occur where plumbing penetrates common walls and around electrical, cable, and phone outlets. Waiting rooms, visitor lounges, common areas, laundry rooms, and equipment such as wheelchairs and food carts, should be regularly inspected for bed bugs,” say L. Silvia Munoz-Price, M.D., Nasia Safdar, M.D., Ph.D., John C. Beier, Sc.D., and Stephen L. Doggett, in “Bed Bugs in Healthcare Settings,” published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, Vol. 33, No. 11.

Remain Calm

Having protocols and preventive measures in place will go a long way in catching a bed bug situation early, if your practice is ever faced with one. While finding a bed bug can be extremely stressful for both patients and staff, the treatments available are sufficient to kill them. If you take all the necessary measures quickly, the bed bug situation will be resolved eventually.