When smoke testing was conducted to verify negative-pressure functioning in rooms with a continuous monitoring system, only 50% were found to actually be negative pressure. 11 Even the monitoring systems installed to verify continuously that negative pressure was maintained were found to be faulty. Louis hospitals, this finding was reaffirmed: only 51% of the negative-pressure rooms tested functioned properly. 6, 10 In a more recent (1996) study conducted in 10 St. 6, 7, 8, 9 In addition, research conducted in the early 1990s indicates that many rooms designed to be negative pressure do not consistently function as required. One major challenge to airborne precautions adherence is the well-documented lack of negative-pressure rooms available in hospitals. 4, 5 Airborne precautions consist of engineering controls, such as the use of a negative-pressure environment, and the use of personal protective equipment in the form of respirators. 4, 5 This category of isolation precautions consists of protective measures designed to remove as many of the droplet nuclei from the air as possible and eliminate the risk of inhalation by susceptible people. 3 For hospitalized patients, airborne precautions are used to decrease health care-associated spread of airborne-spread diseases. There is no single way to protect susceptible persons from transmission it is recommended that a combination of methods be used. 2Īny infectious disease spread by droplet nuclei, such as smallpox, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB), and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), poses a threat to the health of other patients, staff, and visitors in the hospital setting. 2 In this regard, infectious agents that are spread via airborne droplet nuclei, such as smallpox, have the potential for a massive public health impact. 1 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), terrorists are likely to choose an agent that would result in the greatest terror or mass casualties. 1 These consequences would likely have been exponentially greater if the terrorists had utilized an agent that causes a communicable disease because this could have resulted in the rapid spread of secondary infections. As the 2001 anthrax attacks illustrated, only a small amount of agent is required to have a tremendous impact in terms of morbidity, costs, and mental health effects. Terrorist attacks using biologic agents pose a substantial threat to the safety, health, and security of US citizens.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |