Becker Hospital Review reported “What hospitals need to know about the current Ebola outbreak.”
Guidelines for hospitals
“According to the CDC guidelines, healthcare providers should evaluate patients for EVD if they have the following risk factors:
- Clinical criteria of a fever greater than 101.5 degrees Fahrenheit, severe headache, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, hemorrhage
- Epidemiologic risk factors like contact with an infected person, travel to an area where EVD is active or direct contact with bats, rodents or primates in an area where Ebola is endemic.”
“The CDC also issued recommended infection control measures for patients with known or suspected EVD. They include the following (see the full recommendations here):
- Patients should be placed in a single patient room, with a private bathroom, with the door closed
- Healthcare workers should wear gloves, gowns, shoe covers, eye protection and face masks
- Workers should avoid aerosol-generating procedures
- Environmental cleaning should be performed with the appropriate disinfectants, which include 10 percent sodium hypochlorite solution or hospital-grade quaternary ammonium or phenolic products
- Potentially contaminated materials like blood, sweat, emesis, feces and body secretions should be safely handled”
Click here to read the 20 “things” in the BHR story “20 things to know about the Ebola outbreak” by Lindsey Dunn.
****
Doctor, Did You Wash Your Hands? ™ provides information to consumers on understanding, managing and navigating health care options.
Jonathan M. Metsch, Dr.P.H., is Clinical Professor, Preventive Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; and Adjunct Professor, Baruch College ( C.U.N.Y.), Rutgers School of Public Health, and Rutgers School of Public Affairs and Administration.
This blog shares general information about understanding and navigating the health care system. For specific medical advice about your own problems, issues and options talk to your personal physician.