Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical center’s doctors and staff are trained and “prepared to care for” Ebola patients, a senior hospital official said yesterday following a large-scale exercise intended to test the facility’s readiness.
During the drill, health-care workers donned protective gear, transferred a mock patient to ICU, conducted blood tests, disposed of waste and safely removed protective clothing.
“Preparing for patients stricken with Ebola has involved a significant amount of time and thought,” said UCLA’s Dr. Zachary Rubin, medical director of clinical epidemiology and infection prevention.
“We are trained and believe we are prepared to care for such patients, and that includes doing everything we can to ensure the health and safety of all of our patients, faculty and staff, and the community,” Rubin said.
He described today’s drill as a “big, mock-up walk-through” observed by Los Angeles County health officials.
The case of a Dallas nurse who contracted the disease while treating a now-deceased Ebola patient from Liberia “obviously accelerated everybody’s time frame” in preparing to combat the deadly virus, Rubin said earlier in the week.
The nurse contracted the disease even though she wore protective clothing while treating the man. A second nurse involved the first patient’s case also is in isolation after becoming infected with the Ebola virus.
UCLA’s “multi-pronged” approach includes protocols for transporting patients through the hospital, disposing of trash and waste, dedicating equipment – such as ventilators and X-ray machines – for Ebola patient use only, setting up a mobile laboratory, acquiring specialized personal protective equipment and staff training.
UCLA Health System also adjusted its electronic medical record-keeping to alert staff to patients who recently traveled to high-risk areas. A red bar will appear over the medical charts of such patients. Blood analysis of patients suspected of having Ebola will be conducted in the mobile lab and not the medical center’s regular laboratory.
“Blood is highly infectious,” Rubin said. “We don’t want to risk contaminating the entire (health-care) system.”
Doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists and other personnel in contact with Ebola patients will be equipped with respirators and full-body suits that include hoods and booties. Because such protective suits can become hot and uncomfortable when worn for an extended period of time, fluid-resistant gowns will also be provided, Rubin said.
The specialized equipment will be available in the emergency departments at UCLA’s Westwood and Santa Monica medical centers, though the Westwood facility is where a patient suspected of Ebola would be brought.
Rubin said the “minimum number of people we need to take care of” Ebola patients will be used in an effort to to limit possible staff exposure to the virus, according to Rubin.
There are no cases or suspected cases of Ebola in California, and the risk of the spread of virus in the state “is very low,” a state health official said on Wednesday.
Ebola cannot be transmitted through the air, food or water, said Dr. Gil Chavez, state epidemiologist and deputy director at the Center for Infectious Diseases at the California Department of Public Health.
The virus is “not particularly hardy” and does not live more than a few hours on dry surfaces, such as phones and table tops, Chavez said.
However, in moist or wet conditions – such as in blood or vomit – Ebola can survive for a longer period of time.
The people most at risk of contracting Ebola are close family members of infected patients and the health-care workers involved in their care.
“We believe the risk of the spread of Ebola in California is very low,” Chavez said.
