Managing Readiness for High-Consequence Infectious Disease

We are continuing our series, Media Day, where we spotlight individual medical institutions and their infectious disease (ID) programs. This episode profiles Emory Healthcare.
 
Sharon Carrasco DNP, APRN, ACNS-BC, ANP-C, CEN, FAEN, FAAN, FNAP, is the director of the Region 4 Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center (RESPTC) based at Emory University Hospital, and she oversees preparedness efforts for special pathogen events locally and regionally while also managing unit and hospital readiness for patients with special pathogens such as Ebola, Lassa fever, and other high-consequence infectious diseases (HCID). She explains there are 2 critical elements that guide healthcare professionals when managing readiness for HCID. They include adopting a culture of safety as well as a preparedness mantra that includes the 3 I’s: Identify, Isolate, and Inform.

Looking at the culture of safety, Carrasco says its about interprofessional teams from clinicians to nurses to members of the pharmacy team to other frontline workers pulling together to ensure everyone is carrying out safe practices.

In considering the 3 I’s, past experience helped them develop these priorities that they should take into account when caring for patients with HCID. Specifically, there were lessons learned back in 2014 when Emory became the first US medical institution to admit patients with Ebola.

“I think back in 2014, there were delays in patient care because of the fear when a patient would present to the hospital. But I think now that we have systems set up so that patients can be screened—so identifying isolated [patients] appropriately—and the officials are informed, I think those are really important pieces…And since then, we've really had this opportunity to implement the national special pathogen system—the tiered system—so the patients get to the appropriate place in the appropriate time. So very similar to the burn system, to the trauma system, there are different levels of care, and Emory serves as that level one regional treatment center,” said Carrasco.

In terms of national preparedness, Carrasco believes these aforementioned formal processes in place as well as the government expectations attached to federal funding of institutions, puts the country in a good position to care for patients with HCID.

“The Joint Commission now requires facilities who receive CMS funding to implement strategies for identify, isolate, and inform and [maintain] appropriate PPE,” said Carrasco. “That's a huge help to reinforce what frontline staff really should be doing to prepare for patients that are suspected of having an infectious disease like Ebola or other pathogens like that,” she said.

In the next episode, Carrasco talks about the approach to preparedness training.