Personal protective equipment processes and rationale for the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit during the 2014 activations for Ebola virus disease

Elizabeth L Beam; Shelly Schwedhelm; Kathleen Boulter; Christopher Kratochvil; John Lowe; Angela Hewlett; Shawn G Gibbs; Philip W Smith

doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2015.09.031

Personal protective equipment processes and rationale for the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit during the 2014 activations for Ebola virus disease

Am J Infect Control. 2016 Mar 1;44(3):340-2. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2015.09.031. Epub 2015 Nov 7.

Authors

Elizabeth L Beam¹, Shelly Schwedhelm², Kathleen Boulter², Christopher Kratochvil³, John Lowe⁴, Angela Hewlett⁵, Shawn G Gibbs⁴, Philip W Smith⁵

Affiliations

¹ College of Nursing, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE. Electronic address: ebeam@unmc.edu.
² Nebraska Medicine, Omaha, NE.
³ Nebraska University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE.
⁴ College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE.
⁵ College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE.

PMID: 26559735
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2015.09.031

Abstract

In response to the Ebola virus disease outbreak of 2014, specific procedures for personal protective equipment use were developed in the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit for the isolation care of patients with the illness. This brief report describes the 2 different levels used for patient care and presents the rationales for the specialized processes.

Keywords: Ebola; Infectious disease; Isolation; Patient care; Personal protective equipment; Safety.

MeSH terms

Disease Transmission, Infectious / prevention & control*
Health Personnel*
Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / therapy*
Humans
Infection Control / methods*
Nebraska
Personal Protective Equipment*