EBOLA Lessons learned from Ebola

M

mythreemonkeykids

Contributing Member
http://www.idweek.org/ebola_idweek_2014/

- Planning for the care of patients
- Clinical Care
- Experimental Interventions
- Laboratory Testing and Diagnostics
- Surprises in Shipping
- Staff and Environmental Safety
- Personal Protective Equipment
- Unexpected Adventures in Waste Management
- Media and Communications
- Lessons Learned
- References
A summary of the presentation at IDWeek by Dr. Bruce Ribner on caring for Ebola patients in the US [1]. Dr. Ribner led the team at Emory University that cared for two patients with Ebola virus disease (EVD) in August. In light of the recent Ebola cases in Dallas and Spain he agreed that a summary could be provided to assist ID specialists in their ongoing preparedness efforts.
>> Watch Dr. Ribner’s Ebola Presentation
Planning for the care of patients
This involves the entire institution, and needs many sections to coordinate their work. EMS services were an important coordination point for the transport of the 2 patients to Emory. On the medical staff, many types of expertise were needed for clinical management: ID, critical care, anaesthesiology and several other subspecialities. Nursing, environmental management, facilities, security and media relations were all intensively involved ahead of time so that expected roles were defined. Even so, there were times when questions arose after the patients arrived.
Clinical Carehttp://http://www.idweek.org/ebola_idweek_2014/
 
O

OddOne

< Yes, I do look like that.
A few takeaways from the article for folks that might have to self-quarantine and/or shelter in place:

- People lost 5-10 liters per day of fluids through not only excretions (sweat, vomit, stool), but also due to vascular seepage.
- Dehydration wasn't the only risk - electrolyte losses were pretty significant. You can have a healthy water level and still die if your body loses enough key minerals (e.g., ionized calcium, which is critical for nerve function).
- They detected Ebola in practically everything that comes out of or off a patient, including skin, but not from dialysate. Additionally, they didn't find virus on touched surfaces, only from fluid contacts.
- It took one-on-one, around-the-clock, continuous care to keep the patients alive.
- It also took emotional support to keep patients from giving up.
- The clinicians involved started with CDC-suggested BL2-grade PPE and upgraded to BL3.
- Emory had to set up a hot lab to handle testing for Ebola samples, as a form of risk mitigation.
- Nobody wanted to transport samples despite having the ability to do so.
- Local sewer management didn't want wastes to be disposed into their systems without extensive decon procedures.
 
dstraito

dstraito

TB Fanatic
I think one of the main lessons should be to tar and feather all the politicians and run them out of town and the appoint people who actually know what they are doing
 
BH

BH

. . . .
Lesson 1
We are a nation of idiots, run by a bunch of idiots

I'm dying to be proven wrong
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top