Splish Splash

Janie was a ward clerk on one of the medical/surgical floor at Frick Hospital in Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania. She had an extremely squeamish stomach and could not tolerate seeing sputum, urine, or any other bodily samples when they were in their clear plastic containers. Most often the specimens were placed on the nursing station’s ledge.

She wanted the containers to be wrapped in a paper towel or she would recall the person who placed it there ato return to the station and cover the specimen. It was then Janie’s job to complete the request form for tests ordered and place it beside the sample heading to the lab.

Resting immediately below the ledge was the intercom system for the floor. Janie was most often the person who used the call box to make announcements for any patient care needed and the room number.

Unknown to the nursing assistant who placed the paper towel covered bottle of urine on the ledge, the container had a crack. As it sat on the ledge the urine began to ooze out and to drip onto the call box. Earlier, Janie saw the sample sitting there and was filling out the request for the urinalysis. When she turned to place the completed chit on the ledge by the sample, she noticed urine dripping onto the electronic call bell system.

First she gagged holding her hand over her mouth, then she leaped to her feet. Her chair kicked back, shooting across the station to bounce off the wall. Because she was gagging, she couldn’t ask for help. Instead, she danced in a circle not knowing what to do. She couldn’t use the call box to summon someone because it was covered in urine. She couldn’t touch it because of its contamination and was also afraid that she would be electrocuted.

Holding her hand to her mouth she gagged again, then darted out into the hallway grabbing the nearest person she could find to rectify the problem. The nursing assistant brought a Styrofoam cup and placed the specimen inside, then toweled off the ledge, but they had to phone housekeeping and maintenance men to clean and check the call bell box before Janie would even look at the intercom system again.