U.S. hospitals overdo Ebola plans, posing new risks: researchers

[Shiloh]

Source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/08/22/us-health-ebola-hospitals-idUKKBN0GM20S20140822


U.S. hospitals overdo Ebola plans, posing new risks: researchers
By Sharon Begley
NEW YORK Fri Aug 22, 2014 10:03pm BST


(Reuters) - Fear of Ebola is causing U.S. hospitals to take precautions that, paradoxically, might backfire, increasing the risk to those caring for a patient with the deadly disease, researchers warned this week.

The only confirmed Ebola cases on U.S. soil so far have been two American aid workers flown from Liberia for treatment at Emory University Hospital. They were discharged this week after recovering from the disease that has killed more than 1,400 people in Africa.

While calling the extra steps "understandable given the horrific mortality of this disease," Dr. Michael Klompas of Harvard Medical School and lead author of the paper in Annals of Internal Medicine, said they are unnecessary and could backfire.

For instance, if nurses and doctors wear unfamiliar gear such as head-to-toe hazmat suits, "there is absolutely a risk of making mistakes and contaminating yourself" with a patient's bodily fluids, said Dr. David Kuhar of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ..

 

[Lizw]

Re: U.S. hospitals overdo Ebola plans, posing new risks: researchers

Good information. As a former EMT in the early days of the AIDS crisis in the US, I know how easy it is to become paranoid over infection control, to the point of becoming distracted about normal precautions. The only real scare we ever had was when someone was so nervous about starting an IV on an AIDS patient who had to be transported that he dropped the first syringe he used down between the seat cushions and someone else sat on it.