Atlanta Legal Nurse Consultant Reviews Emory Ebola Presentation

Atlanta, Georgia – WEBWIRE – Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Atlanta legal nurse consultant Liz Buddenhagen, RN, attended the Athens Area Georgia Nurses Association (GNA) dinner meeting at Athens Regional Medical Services on April 18, 2016. The main event was welcoming the Emory Serious Communicable Disease Unit (SCDU) registered nurses who presented how they take care of Ebola and Lassa Fever patients.

Emory SCDU:

Sharlene Toney, PhD, RN started off the evening by saying that Emory has had an agreement for years to care for CDC personnel in the event of an exposure to infectious pathogens in one of their Biosafety Level 4 research labs. This specialized unit has expanded and now also takes Ebola and Lassa Fever diagnosed patients.

Front Line:

The front line caregivers in the SCDU are intensive care trained RNs who receive a lot of additional training to care for these very sick patients.

The main idea of preventing spread of these patient’s disease was to keep the disease in the room. This was accomplished in various ways. The nurses had very strict methods of putting on the personal protective wear that was especially designed for this unit. There were many steps involved that had to be done in the exact right sequence every time, every day. The same was true for removing the protective gear. The nurses watched each other to make sure each followed the steps exactly. There was an inside the patient room nurse, an outside the room nurse watching the inside nurse and a third nurse who answered phone calls, ran errands, etc.

The nurse in the patient’s room was constantly cleaning behind herself including wiping her footsteps with an antiseptic wipe. Staff going in and out of the patient’s room were limited as much as possible.

For those interested, Emory has, on their website, “Ebola Preparedness Protocols” and much more information.

Sponsor:

Keri Ireland of Columbus State University sponsored this presentation. Ireland is the Executive Director for the University and talked briefly about their online RN to BSN program. Ireland noted their program is affordable to RNs at $8,120, can be completed in 12 to 18 months, is 100% online, 5 start dates per year and classes run for 7 weeks. The program is fully accredited by CCNE and the Georgia Board of Nursing.

For more information, contact Keri Ireland at keri.ireland@apdegrees.com , view apdegree.com/columbusstate or call 404-966-9204.

Atlanta Legal Nurse Consultant:

Liz Buddenhagen, RN, assists Atlanta attorneys with medical legal cases. For more information, email Liz@BuddenhagenLNC.com , view Legal-Nurse-Consultant-LNC.com or call 770-725-2997.