UAB plans comprehensive approach to caring for potential Ebola patients

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How UAB Hospital is preparing to care for a potential Ebola patient.

Alan Alexander

Reporter- Birmingham Business Journal

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The University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital issued a memo to its employees on Friday detailing the hospital's plans for caring for a patient with Ebola, which includes preventative measures that go beyond the current guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"We are updating our guidelines to include a change in the PPE (personal protective equipment) that will be more comprehensive than current CDC guidelines," the memo said.

Certain preventative measures include the formation of a "focused group of highly trained individuals who are well‐versed in the proper donning and doffing of PPE."

Dr. Marjorie Lee White, associate professor and co-director of the Pediatric Simulation Center at Children's of Alabama will head up the one-on-one training for the group of health workers that would care for an Ebola patient.

The hospital is also implementing new travel history screening tools in its emergency departments to accurately gauge a patient's risk factor for having contracted the disease, the memo said.

Alan Alexander covers health care, technology and education for the Birmingham Business Journal. Click here to follow him on Twitter.