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Patient revisits St. Joseph's - as a bogus ER worker

An ex-patient returns, posing as a technician. Now she's a patient again.

By ALEXANDRA ZAYAS
Published March 8, 2007

TAMPA - She reported to the St. Joseph's Hospital emergency room Monday at 9 p.m., wearing scrubs and calling herself a temp. She said she'd lost her ID.

They let her in. She knew the layout and the lingo, though she seemed to lack basic skills. She worked 10 hours as a patient care technician.

The next night, she returned with a confession: She was an impostor, not a health care worker. Now, she wanted to be a patient.

"This is the first time anyone's done this to our knowledge," said the hospital's chief operating officer, Lorraine Lutton. "The most serious breakdown was in our badge identification process."

The woman had been a patient at the hospital several times in the past and was readmitted Tuesday. Officials wouldn't identify her because of patient privacy laws. Nor would they disclose the nature of her treatment.

Through a hospital spokesperson, the woman declined to speak with the Times about her night in the ER, which included a meal break with a co-worker.

"Our team members felt that she was a credible person," Lutton said. "They thought she was a colleague."

But soon after the Monday night shift began, triage employees noticed that the "float," their name for a temporary worker, couldn't take temperatures or read blood pressure.

By her third failed attempt, they told her to shadow another worker. She did so for the rest of the shift.

On a typical night, dozens of employees report to the bay area's busiest emergency room, which sees 130,000 patients per year.

Apart from the employee who first asked to see the woman's badge, no one questioned her right to be on duty.

The oversight alarmed hospital administrators, who alerted news media to the incident. Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Patterson called the situation "unacceptable" but said patient care was not compromised. The woman made no medical decisions and had no access to patient records, Patterson said.

Hospital officials were relieved to learn that with each of the woman's failings, another employee had swiftly stepped in.

"The team that was working with her was uncomfortable," Patterson said.

A patient care technician typically escorts patients and visitors around the hospital, takes vital signs and preps patients for testing. The position does not require a state license.

Tampa police were alerted to the security breach Tuesday night, and they are investigating to determine if a crime was committed.

The hospital is conducting its own investigation, strengthening badge enforcement and educating staff about how to deal with unfamiliar colleagues.

"We certainly don't want to have anyone consider doing this in the future," Lutton said.

Alexandra Zayas can be reached at azayas@sptimes.com or 813-226-3354.

[Last modified March 7, 2007, 23:07:24]