To pass the test, a healthcare facility needed to mask the patient and put them in an isolation room. Ideally, the masking would occur within a minute or less of the patient walking in, and isolation would occur in 10 minutes or less. For this drill, both masking and isolation were enough to pass, regardless of timing.

Of course that would be ideal, but realistically this expectation is kind of impossible. Like it’s a busy ED… It takes a while for walk-ins to get sorted and checked in. Not to mention healthcare workers are often overworked and understaffed. We do our best, but as an RN who also works ED, I am so not surprised by the 40% failure rate.

Where I work, the first point of contact for walk-ins is registration, who are not medically trained. They would then tell the triage nurse the acuity of the patient. So for someone who comes in looking like the flu, it’s most likely going to be a wait to be seen.