'Healthcare Test Kitchen' Applies Lessons From Ebola

Ten years ago, as the first patients with Ebola virus to be treated in the US were transported to Emory University Hospital, charge nurse Jill Morgan (below in protective gear) was faced with a pivotal question: How could health care workers be certain of biocontainment? How could the risk be mitigated?

“I never felt like I was exposed to Ebola,” says Morgan. “Our patients who contracted Ebola virus disease were all health care workers themselves traveling in Africa, and none of them knew exactly how they had gotten exposed. They trusted their protocols and processes too. How do we know that we stayed safe because of what we did, instead of being lucky? That’s when I decided that trust is not enough. I want to see the evidence,” adds Morgan, site manager of the Serious Communicable Diseases Unit.

Morgan’s experience caring for highly infectious patients informed her idea for a “Healthcare Test Kitchen” lab, designed to validate bedside materials, procedures, and protocols to ensure pathogen containment and maximum safety for employees, patients, and families. “We want to understand where workers and patients are at risk from infectious pathogens and how we can mitigate those risks,” says Morgan. “Because what doesn’t end up on our clothing or skin doesn't move to the next patient, other staff, or home to our families.”

Get the full story on Emory’s ‘Healthcare Test Kitchen’.

 

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