What is your team doing for Ebola?

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Gotham Medic

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What prep is your team dong for Ebola? Lets try to learn from each other.
 
Staying out of Texas?

In reality here is a link to a thread that contains all the info already provided by members
 
Our county renamed the protocol from influenza-like symptoms to infections disease, and they revamped the protocol.

In addition to wearing gloves on every call, we have to wear safety glasses too on every call now.

We are suppose to ask the patient if they have a fever or check for a fever (>101.5F I think is the number they used).

If they do have a fever, then ask if they recently traveled to West Africa within the past 3 weeks. Specifically ask about Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.

If so, notify our dispatch and the receiving hospital by telephone (do not use the radio).

We are suppose to put on in order: Gown, Mask, Safety Glasses, and Gloves last. Kinda doesn't make sense to me sense are suppose to wear gloves and safety glasses 100% of the time now, but maybe they want us to take it off and put it in that order to prevent ourselves from getting infected. When we take it off, we are suppose to take it off in the opposite order.

In addition to the PPE we already have, we are getting boot covers.

When we arrive at the hospital, we are not to bring the patient into the ER. Wait in the ambulance for further instruction from the hospital where to move the ambulance or bring the patient at.

We haven't had any drills or practices this. For my division, interfacility transfer, I don't expect we'll do any drills unless we are likely to transport a patient with ebola. For our 911 division, I am not sure if they are gonna do drills or not. I'll ask around. I personally think we should do drills and go over this stuff more rather than just revamp a protocol and send out a memo.

I kinda like the wearing safety glasses on every call thing. I was trained to wear them on every call at my EMT school. I feel like it's so easy to do and a great way to protect your eyes that you should just do it. It's like wearing a seatbelt. Easy too do. Not saying something will get in your eyes (even within the next couple of years), but you are gonna wish you had safety glasses on when something does get flung into your eye. I used to wear safety glasses 100% of the time, but since I was the only one doing it and people asked me "Do you have problems seeing? Are those prescriptions?" or some people even made fun of me that I kinda just stopped wearing them over time.

Oh, in addition to those protocol changes, we provided with some information on ebola like the signs and symptoms and how it effects you. We were told we should stay calm and professional about it, and that the odds of us being exposed to it would be very very low.
 
Aprz said:
dio).

We are suppose to put on in order: Gown, Mask, Safety Glasses, and Gloves last. Kinda doesn't make sense to me sense are suppose to wear gloves and safety glasses 100% of the time now, but maybe they want us to take it off and put it in that order to prevent ourselves from getting infected. When we take it off, we are suppose to take it off in the opposite order.
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That's ridiculous. you take your gloves off and then touch all the other contaminated stuff?

When it comes to gowns I think the generally accepted technique is to gown up first, stick your thumbs through the holes, make pt contact, hulk-rip the gown off, and if you set up the sleeves right, the sleeves pull your gloves off.
 
DieselBolus said:
That's ridiculous. you take your gloves off and then touch all the other contaminated stuff?

When it comes to gowns I think the generally accepted technique is to gown up first, stick your thumbs through the holes, make pt contact, hulk-rip the gown off, and if you set up the sleeves right, the sleeves pull your gloves off.
Click to expand...
What they don't want people doing is reaching behind to undo a gown with contaminate gloves or removing goggles or a mask with contaminated gloves. The gown is much less contaminated. However, another option would be to put on two pairs of gloves on so you can remove the outer contaminated gloves, remove the contaminated gown, then remove the cleaner gloves.
 
We got a one page memo to read and sign about Ebola.
Who to contact, what PPEs to wear, and what S/S patients may be displaying.

Good to go now!
 
Dialing 911 for HazMat
 
KCM1 was featured on the news. They took an older truck and stripped everything out to make an "ebola ambulance".
 
We have a specific dispatch language that triggers staging and fire doesn't respond. Supe brings us specific gear including a PAPR system for each crewmember and the ambulance is draped. Then we go about business as usual until the hospital. We sit in the bay until the hospital team comes and gets us. Then we doff our gear, don new gear and clean the unit. It's out of service until the DOH inspects it.
 
Is anybody doing drills?
 
Handsome Robb said:
We have a specific dispatch language that triggers staging and fire doesn't respond. Supe brings us specific gear including a PAPR system for each crewmember and the ambulance is draped. Then we go about business as usual until the hospital. We sit in the bay until the hospital team comes and gets us. Then we doff our gear, don new gear and clean the unit. It's out of service until the DOH inspects it.
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Hmm. That sounds good when dispatch screens it appropriately, but I think it's more likely most of us would find out after we get there and make patient contact.
 
Not to bring up the issues already stated in the other Ebola thread, but what do you do for patients who have an interest in not telling the truth about their travel history or exposure. Why did Duncan lie about not having contact with a person with ebola? How would you effectively screen for Ebola with an inaccurate travel history, especially knowing that flu season is upon us? I have the sniffles right now and am saying that I have not been to West Africa, do you don your hazmat suit and PAPR...
 
not enough. any patient with a cough or flu like symptoms gets put in a rebreather mask, which last time i checked we didnt even carry
 
chaz90 said:
Hmm. That sounds good when dispatch screens it appropriately, but I think it's more likely most of us would find out after we get there and make patient contact.
Click to expand...

Our dispatch screening is pretty aggressive. Basically anyone with a complaint that could be flu-like or ebola-like gets the ebola dispatch screening and if they get a certain amount of "points" we stage until appropriate PPE is present. If we suspect it we're to maintain a 6-8 foot distance, call our radio 'code word' and excuse ourselves until appropriate PPE has been donned. That's straight from the MD and our company legal counsel.
 
I work where there is a Bridge to Canada. Not the Detroit bridge, but the other one. Customs has come up with a plan recently. They will be screening anyone who tries entering or leaving the country. If they answer yes to any of the questions EMS will be called. The person will be kept in their vehicle.

When we respond to the bridge, we are to contact the supervisor, and put on all the PPE that we carry on the truck. The local hospital will be contacted and when they are ready, the patient will be removed from the car and placed in the ambulance and taken to the hospital. No IV starts.
 
If we have an Ebola patient we are screwed. It's that simple.
 
If we are doing a transport of a confirmed Ebola patient the supervisors will be notified. They will prep an ambulance and drive it to us. Another unit will be sent from a different division that carries the breathing devices we are to use.

The EMT and Medic will don full PPE with the breathing devices and will be in back with the patient for the transport. The supervisor will drive the ambulance.

When we set up a unit for a patient we seperate the front cab and patient compartment with plastic. The driver (supervisor) is not required to wear any PPE and will not make any patient contact.
 
Wait, but then who is going to be clipboard man?
ebola-clipboard3.jpg
 
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