The Isolation Communication Management System. A Telemedicine Platform to Care for Patients in a Biocontainment Unit

摘要

The 2014–2016 outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) called for the urgent need to develop clinical care protocols and practices to ensure healthcare provider (HCP) safety when caring for potentially infected patients. Ebola virus is highly contagious and spreads primarily through infected bodily fluids, including diarrhea, vomit, and blood ( , ). It can be transmitted by direct human-to-human contact or indirectly through contact with contaminated objects, such as bedding, clothing, and medical waste ( – ). Vomiting, diarrhea, internal bleeding, and external bleeding increase the likelihood of exposure for caregivers ( – ). By November 2015, a total of 881 HCPs in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone had contracted EVD, and 513 had died of EVD ( ). HCPs were 21–32 times more likely to contract EVD than the general adult population, and HCP infections accounted for 12% of all EVD cases in July 2014 ( ). Of the four cases of EVD diagnosed in the United States, two were in HCPs who cared for a patient in Texas ( ). These events highlighted the critical need to develop tools that assist in the safe care of patients with EVD or other highly contagious and lethal infectious diseases.