Preventing the spread of infections and disease is vital in hospitals all over the country.
Identifying people in a hospital who carry infections and preventing the spread of infection is the job of Carol Elder, an infection control specialist at Mount Carmel West Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
Elder receives a daily report of the hospital’s admissions and patient diagnoses. If something catches her eye, she educates and alerts physicians and nurses. As another form of prevention, Elder said, the hospital electronically collects key complaints from the emergency room and monitors pharmacies outside of the hospital for infection and disease information.
“We see what types of medicines are being purchased, to look for clusters,” Elder said. “Or to look for increases in something that might trigger a bioterrorism attack or an outbreak.”
An outbreak of rashes might signal anthrax or smallpox, Elder said as an example. Or paralysis might signal botulism, which could come from a natural outbreak or from bioterrorism. Elder said anything that can affect the air or water supply is of the biggest concern to infection control specialists.
“We have been contacted a couple of times,” Elder said. “That is a way the nation has put into place some early detection of bioterrorism.”
Hospitals in central Ohio look for outbreaks with the help of the Regional Hospital Emergency Preparedness committee, part of the Central Ohio Trauma System. The committee assists central Ohio hospitals with regional disaster management planning for a mass-casualty event. The hospitals share ideas, write protocols, and during an emergency would all be in contact and aid one another, Elder said.
This is all part of how infection control changed after 9/11, according to Elder.
“Right after, we did a lot to set up things,” Elder said. “What to do for smallpox. What to do for a mass influx of patients. That flurry has died down. Now it’s more of a maintaining and preventing mode.”
Although the hospital hasn’t dealt with a major outbreak since the H1N1 influenza, there are policies in place for dealing with bioterrorism, pandemics and outbreaks, Elder said.
“We set it out up front—here’s what you do, here’s how you isolate,” Elder said. “If something happens, the Centers for Disease Control would issue up-to-date things like here’s the test you should be running. We would tweak our policy and protocol to match.”
Using proper handwashing techniques is the first and foremost way to stop the spread of disease in a hospital, said Jen House, spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Health. House said the department also encourages people to use sterile equipment and gloves.
House did point to a Centers for Disease Control report out recently that indicates hospitals are doing a better job of reducing infections in hospitals, but most still have progress to make.
Elder said the hospital received federal emergency money after 9/11 and used it to buy extra masks and gloves to prepare for any outbreaks in the future.
The hospital has also assembled a safety team of hospital employees and now has ways to alert the hospital in a mass-casualty emergency or outbreak of disease. Elder said the hospital has devised ways to empty out the emergency room in a hurry and make room for an influx of new patients.
“If they need surgery, do you stop elective surgeries?” Elder said. “How do you discharge patients quickly? Can you fit a second cot in a patient room? Is there a big area like a waiting room that you can turn into a patient ward?”
Ohio’s Homeland Security has also created its own strategic plan to deal with an attack after 9/11. One of its goals is to “reduce the risk of terrorism and increase statewide preparedness by strengthening CBRNE/WMD (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosive/Weapons of Mass Destruction) detection, response, and recovery capabilities and increasing public awareness.”
But at home and at hospitals, covering coughs and washing hands is the best advice Elder can give for dealing with a sickness and preventing an outbreak of disease. House encouraged those patients that aren’t feeling well to stay home from work and not leave the house if possible, until the illness passes.
