Ebola Update - Nursing Protocol - Nebraska Medicine

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.livewellnebraska.com/ebola/nebraska-med-center-nursing-official-unit-could-care-for-no/article_c76696f0-5302-11e4-af42-001a4bcf6878.html

Posted: Monday, October 13, 2014 1:00 pm | Updated: 4:22 pm, Mon Oct 13, 2014.

By Rick Ruggles / World-Herald staff writer

The Nebraska Medical Center’s biocontainment unit could handle two or three Ebola patients at once, but no more than that, the nursing director of that unit said Monday.

Shelly Schwedhelm said the med center’s 10-bed unit is “prepared to take on more than one patient.” But Schwedhelm said the autoclave equipment — the technology that sterilizes items with high-pressure steam — would limit the unit’s capacity to two or three Ebola patients at once.

“That’s pretty much the level of staffing that we have as well,” Schwedhelm said.

Health authorities have started to ask whether special biocontainment units, such as that at the Nebraska Medical Center, should handle all of the Ebola patients in the United States.

FULL story, more info, and video at link.

Published on Oct 13, 2014
Shelly Schwedhelm, nursing director for the Biocontainment Unit at Nebraska Medicine - Nebraska Medical Center answers questions about protocol and other issues related to caring for an Ebola patient.

[LeftInTX]

1. Excellent!