Who to Contact:
- Lynne Anderson – VA Housestaff Coordinator / Management Analyst
C: 817-946-2782
Having VA account access issues or have a general VA question? Contact Lynne first; either by email, text or phone.
She is your first point-of-contact for any VA-related questions/concerns.
Interpreters
Help! I need an Interpreter!
Language Line Services 1-866-874-3972
6 Digit Client ID: 599411
Press 1 for Spanish and 2 for English
Web Resources
- Lactation Rooms: See the Lactation tab
- See Patient Safety Event Reporting
- VA Antibiogram available on intranet: https://vaww.northtexas.va.gov -> Clinical Resources -> Antimicrobial Guide
Needle Stick Protocols
VA Needle-stick Protocol:
If you sustain a needlestick injury while working at the VA, the following guide describes the appropriate steps to take following the incident.
- Notify your immediate supervisor/attending on service.
- Where to go:
- Regular business hours: Employee/Occupational Health Clinic (EOHU, Clinic 15)
- Afterhours/Weekends/Holidays: Present to the Emergency Department. It is not necessary to check in like a patient. Go to the main provider workstation and inform one of the providers that you had a needlestick injury and need to complete the protocol. They will enlist help from the appropriate nursing staff.
- There is a binder for logging of needlestick injuries. In the binder you will be assigned a number (to protect anonymity of your labs and other data). You will the receive a three page packet of paperwork. The ED nursing staff is responsible for locating the binder and the packet of paperwork.
- The first page is to be completely filled out by the person with the needlestick injury. The second page should be filled out together by the ED physician and person with the needlestick injury. To complete this paperwork, you will need basic information like the source patient’s name and last 4 of SSN. The second page of the form asks additional information about the source patient that may require further EMR review (HIV, Hep B, and Hep C status). If the patient consents, serologies for these bloodborne diseases will need to be ordered. Note that the order should be from a provider that is not directly responsible in the patient’s care (e.g. a provider not from the primary team). This could be the ED physician or a physician in the employee health office. If there is concern for acute HIV or hepatitis infection, note that it may be necessary for viral loads to be measured as well in the case that screening antibodies have not yet turned positive. While this should not be your responsibility, you should make sure that someone orders the appropriate studies on the patient (if the patient consents) as this has been an issue in the past (with no labs ordered or possibly an incomplete set of labs).
- After completing this paperwork, you will have your own labs drawn. You do not need to be checked in as a patient, but your labs will need to be collected and sent to the lab. Part of the protocol involves the ED staff calling or directly communicating with the lab about your lab studies because they will not be ordered in CPRS and may not have traditional labels (your needlestick ID number from step 2 is the identifier).
- After completing the paperwork and having labs drawn, you should be offered HIV post-exposure prophylaxis. A verbal consent is all that is required to receive the medication. Again, you should not need to be checked in as a patient, sign paperwork regarding payment/reimbursement for medical care, or have any orders placed in CPRS. (They may require identifying details to put you in the system so that they can remove the medication from the machine but that is all). Post-exposure prophylaxis will be in a bag and contain a three day supply of the medications.
- For all needlestick injuries, the ED physician is responsible for paging the ID attending on call to inform of the event and steps taken.
- After completing paperwork, having labs drawn, receiving post-exposure prophylaxis (if desired), and notification of the ID physician on call, your action steps in the ED are complete.
- You should follow-up in the Employee Health Clinic (Clinic #15) within 24-48 hours of exposure (or sooner if recommended) for follow-up of lab results, any additional exposure counseling, and dispensation of addition post-exposure prophylaxis medication (if applicable). The hours for employee health are as follows: Mon/Wed/Fri 7:30AM-4:00PM and Tues/Thurs 6:00AM-5:30PM.
Food Options
Food Options
- Patriot Store (open until 4 pm on weekdays and 2 pm on weekends): 1st floor next to Building 2 elevators, vouchers accepted
- Cafeteria -- in basement and quite tasty breakfasts. Vouchers accepted (talk to onsite VA Chiefs if you are working off-hours and haven’t received a voucher)
- Starbucks Cafe (weekdays only): across from the Patriot Store next to the cafeteria, vouchers accepted
**on Saturdays, mediocre sandwiches, chips, and sodas are provided in the room labeled Med 1E (though there is no ;Team E) - Please see the onsite chief resident for meal vouchers
Starbucks
- VA: Across from VA Store, 1st floor. Open 7:00am-7:00pm
Parking
Parking
- Parking should be in the FREEDOM or LIBERTY Parking garages (by SCI entrance of VA, in the very back of the campus). DO NOT park in Patriot or front parking lots UNLESS you are working off-hours and the only entrance open is the EMERGENCY ROOM entrance.
- Please note that residents must enter from Emergency Room entrance on weekends and holidays