Lax U.S. Guidelines on Ebola Led to Poor Hospital Training, Experts Say

[Gemineye]

New York Times
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
OCTOBER 15, 2014

Many American hospitals have improperly trained their staffs to deal with Ebola patients because they were following federal guidelines that were too lax, infection control experts said...


http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/10/1...-hospital-training-experts-say.html?referrer=

 

[Dani]

Re: Lax U.S. Guidelines on Ebola Led to Poor Hospital Training, Experts Say

Thank goodness this is all coming to light. The behavior of the CDC, NIAID and NIH in the last few days has been beyond belief. The arrogance displayed regarding what Texas Presbyterian did or didn't do and their immediate assumption that the nurses breached PPE protocol when it was the lax protocol that was the most likely problem was simply a surreal thing to behold.

All one had to do was compare the MSF and CDC protocols side-by-side and the problem was immediately apparent, but the Federal Powers That Be refused to give the Ebola virus the respect it deserved. Their arrogance may cost lives- it certainly will cost millions of dollars, anyway. It may ruin a perfectly good community hospital.

I talked to the person heading up the Ebola preparation effort in my town, and he said they had already dismissed the CDC PPE guidelines out of hand and had far more stringent protocols in place, including (to my surprise) BSL-4 suits. We have a 200 bed community hospital out in the middle of nowhere. The only way we'll see Ebola is with returning medical missionaries or an emergency landing of a transcontinental flight, yet we're prepared. So what the heck was wrong with the CDC?

 

[kiwibird]

Re: Lax U.S. Guidelines on Ebola Led to Poor Hospital Training, Experts Say

New York Times
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
OCTOBER 15, 2014

Many American hospitals have improperly trained their staffs to deal with Ebola patients because they were following federal guidelines that were too lax, infection control experts said...


http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/10/1...-hospital-training-experts-say.html?referrer=

Interesting and well written article - thank you Gemineye.

 

[Emily]

Re: Lax U.S. Guidelines on Ebola Led to Poor Hospital Training, Experts Say

...

I talked to the person heading up the Ebola preparation effort in my town, and he said they had already dismissed the CDC PPE guidelines out of hand and had far more stringent protocols in place, including (to my surprise) BSL-4 suits. We have a 200 bed community hospital out in the middle of nowhere. The only way we'll see Ebola is with returning medical missionaries or an emergency landing of a transcontinental flight, yet we're prepared. So what the heck was wrong with the CDC?

Excellent! Very impressive preparation.

 

[Gemineye]

Re: Lax U.S. Guidelines on Ebola Led to Poor Hospital Training, Experts Say

You're welcome, kiwibird, glad you enjoyed it.

 

[Dani]

Re: Lax U.S. Guidelines on Ebola Led to Poor Hospital Training, Experts Say

Excellent! Very impressive preparation.

Thanks! I think we're quite up on things, the lead physician has already been in touch with the public health command, have the admission, evaluation, & isolation steps all worked out. But it's easier because everyone knows each other and we've worked together on a number of projects already. When you are out in the middle of nowhere, everyone learns to work together to take care of the whole population and whatever comes with that, and to be somewhat self-sufficient. We can't punt to the tertiary care hospital, because there isn't one for 400 miles in any direction!

The only real problem we discussed was that it would take 3-4 days to get the Ebola tests back.

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Lax U.S. Guidelines on Ebola Led to Poor Hospital Training, Experts Say

I haven't heard mention about part of the problem being enforcement of guidelines. It's the "you lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink" situation. CDC could have great protocols, but what guarantees the hospitals have read, practiced, stocked-up, and understand them? They need to adopt the "trust but verify" mentality.

.