On April 12, The Johns Hopkins Hospital simulated what it would be like to admit and care for Ebola patients travelling from Africa during a full-scale, multi-agency overseas exercise designed by the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. The goal of the drill was to assess the readiness of federal, state, local and private partners to respond to an outbreak overseas and to validate the federal government’s sustained capability to evacuate multiple highly infectious disease patients at once. As a designated site to care for potential patients with Ebola virus disease, The Johns Hopkins Hospital was selected as one of five medical centers around the nation to receive two simulated patients with Ebola as part of the exercise.
About 100 faculty and staff members from Johns Hopkins participated in the drill, either planning or carrying out the exercise, including those from the biocontainment unit (BCU), hospital epidemiology and infection control, Lifeline, the Johns Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response (CEPAR) and other departments.
During the drill, 11 simulated patients were flown from Africa on five planes in special containment systems for highly infectious patients. Johns Hopkins Lifeline team members traveled at 4:30 a.m. to Washington Dulles International Airport, where they picked up two of the mock patients around 10:30 a.m. and transported them to The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
“This drill tested our capacity to transport two patients with a highly infectious disease on an extended timeline through heavy traffic,” says Shawn Brast, team educator/critical care transport nurse for Lifeline. “New relationships were forged with other agencies and several lessons were learned. After two years of process design, practicing and drilling, we are ready to transport this unique patient population safely and efficiently.”
Once at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, the drill continued in the BCU, where the team practiced admitting two patients simultaneously and carried out essential care protocols such as patient assessment, laboratory testing and waste transport.
“The drill was a tremendous success,” says Brian Garibaldi, M.D., director of the biocontainment unit. “Each time we participate in a live exercise, we learn new ways to improve our current practices and protocols. We have come so far since we began conducting BCU drills a little over 18 months ago. It is such a privilege to work with talented people from across the health system who are devoted to making our staff, patients, hospital and community safe and prepared for whatever infectious disease or biologic threats may lie ahead.”