Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 22.5
HEICS organizational chart.
agent. The decontamination areas in hospitals were
primarily extra rooms near the ED entrance that
may or may not have a lead protective lining in
the walls and may or may not have a dedicated
drain for the run off. These rooms have, at times,
doubled as shower stalls for certain patients who
may be intoxicated or are very much in need of a
shower or to clean the bloody backboards prior to
returning them to the EMS providers. The make-up
of this decontamination system included a shower-
head, a shower curtain and a variety of soap prod-
ucts to assist the individual in decontaminating him
or herself. In cases involving unresponsive patients
who may be contaminated with an agent, hospitals
have performed decontamination procedures in an
ED room on a patient gurney and cut off the clothes
and rinsed the patient down with bath sponges or
towels. Many healthcare workers were unaware of
the potential for “Off Gassing” and spread of a bio-
terrorism agent. The Personal Protective equipment
of choice in these situations would historically be
the splash-proof hospital gown and a HEPA/N95 or
surgical facemask and gloves. The patient's clothes
would be handled by the Security Department in
of Understanding (MOU) or other planning docu-
ment is essential to ensure the quick and effective
mitigation of a large-scale incident.
The large-scale hospital drill is also important
from a local emergency planning perspective. The
planners in the communities surrounding a major
acute care hospital need to consider the size of the
hospital population, the lack of essential resources
that a hospital does have with regard to security,
decontamination, crowd control and communica-
tions. It is in the best interest of the community
leaders to work with its local acute care hospi-
tals as well as its local, regional, county and state
agencies to discuss collaborative responses and
develop annexes to highlight specific needs for
specific incidents.
22.3 Decontamination
The business of decontamination is not new for the
acute care hospital. For years, hospitals that have
EDs have been taskedwithdecontaminatingpatients
who enter through their doors covered in some
sort of chemical, biological, or infectious disease
