The second case of Ebola in the Dallas hospital now raises this question. This was not supposed to happen. The public now knows that it did happen.
If hospital protocols cannot protect hospital workers, can they protect the patients in standard hospitals?
If the patients cannot be protected, will this disease spread?
These are legitimate questions. They are obvious questions. There are no answers.
Even in the United States, with the best conditions and protective gear available, mistakes can happen that expose more people to Ebola, the new case reveals.
On Sunday, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed infection in the health worker, who was said to have worn full personal protection equipment while caring for Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian man who died Wednesday of Ebola at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. She doesn’t know how she became infected, and officials are investigating to try to find out.
Of the six Ebola patients treated in the U.S. before the health worker’s case, Duncan was the only one not treated at one of the specialized units in several hospitals around the country set up to deal with high-risk germs.
At some point, they will run out of specialized hospitals. Then what?
The CDC‘s director, Dr. Thomas Frieden, has said that any U.S. hospital with isolation capabilities can care for an Ebola patient. But his stance seemed to soften on Sunday, when asked at a news conference whether officials now would consider moving Ebola patients to specialized units.
“We’re going to look at all opportunities to improve the level of safety and to minimize risk, but we can’t let any hospital let its guard down,” because Ebola patients could turn up anywhere, and every hospital must be able to quickly isolate and diagnose such cases, he said.
But once that is done, “then thinking about what the safest way is to provide that care, that’s something that we’ll absolutely be looking at,” he said.
They will be thinking about it? They had better be thinking about this now.
Don’t assume that moving patients to a specialized unit is best, said Dr. Eileen Farnon, a Temple University doctor who formerly worked at the CDC and led teams investigating past Ebola outbreaks in Africa.
“It is also a high-risk activity to transfer patients,” potentially exposing more people to the virus, she said.
In short, “plagued if you do. Plagued if you don’t.”
Where are the protective suits in your hospital? What will wearing them do to hospital efficiency? What will the sight of them do to hospital income?
Would you have a surgeon do elective surgery in a hospital where the staff wears HazMat suits? I wouldn’t.
All health workers treating an Ebola patient should wear personal protective gear, the CDC says. The exact gear can vary. A hazardous material-type suit usually includes a gown, two sets of gloves, a face mask, and an eye shield. There are strict protocols for how to use it correctly.
“When you put on your garb and you take off your garb, it’s a buddy system,” with another health worker watching to make sure it’s done right, Maki said.
It is tricky to use these suits.
“Removing the equipment can really be the highest risk. You have to be extremely careful and have somebody watching you to make sure you remember all the steps,” Farnon said. “After every step you usually would do hand hygiene,” washing your hands with antiseptic or being sprayed with a chlorine spray.
Some of the garb the health worker takes off might brush against a surface and contaminate it. New data suggest that even tiny droplets of a patient’s body fluids can contain the virus, Maki said.
Training is required. Who will provide it?
The CDC says training at the Texas hospital has been ramped up. The agency also now recommends the hospital minimize the number of people caring for an Ebola patient, perform only procedures essential to support the patient’s care, and name a fulltime infection control supervisor while any Ebola patient is being cared for. Frieden also said the agency was taking a new look at personal protective equipment, “understanding that there is a balance and putting more on isn’t always safer — it may make it harder to provide effective care.”
Who will police such training? Who is responsible? Where is this training being provided today?
Your hospital is not providing it. When will it be provided? Only after there are more stories like the one from Dallas. In short, the disease must spread before there is sufficient incentive to provide the HazMat suits and the training to use them.
Look it up, Ebola is a level 4 Contagion, why then are they using level 3 suits ? that is not Adequate protection, no wonder nurses are coming down with Ebola !!!!!
I doubt tha the hospital in my town can deal with a cold much less a major disease.
Freidan is a compete idiot and an Obama puppet. Freidan wanted yo ban smoking in New York because smoking can cause death. Which is the gigger problem- smoking or Ebola.All this Ebola hubub could have been avoided if our illustrious leaders had used COMMON SENSE- DON'T LET EXPOSED PEOPLE INTO OUR COUNTRY ! And don't send our troops to affected areas where they might bring Ebola home to friends an relatives.Thanks Obama and minions !
IF they are able to stop the spread here in Dallas, I am sure that Obama will find some way to contact his muslims buddies and get them to make a run of MULTIPLE suicide bombers who will not carry bombs but will carry the EBOLA.
Folks, Obama is in stealth jihad. And he is going to hurt us IF he can.