The session also will include a hands-on demonstration led by the CDC on how to properly don and doff personal protection equipment—an important lesson after two nurses became infected after treating Thomas Eric Duncan, the first U.S. patient to die of the virus.
Kenneth Raske, president and CEO of the Greater New York Hospital Association, a membership organization composed of healthcare institutions in the New York metropolitan area, said sponsors of the event wanted to make sure that workers have “a family conversation about what we know and things we don't know.” The event is an important opportunity to allay what may be overactive concerns about the virus but also to prepare workers for potential interaction with a patient, Raske said.
“Good information puts fear in perspective,” Raske said. “And good information can dispel a lot of apprehension.”
The event is a part of the GNYHA/1199 SEIU Healthcare Education Project, which has held similar events following other major crises such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the 2001 Anthrax attacks and Hurricane Sandy, Raske said.
Linda Greene, an infection prevention manager at Highland Hospital in Rochester, N.Y., said events such as the one Tuesday can be crucial in ensuring that healthcare providers don't take proper donning and doffing for granted.
“Right now, it's really difficult,” Greene said. “We don't have room for error, particularly when you have a patient that is acutely ill with Ebola.”
Greene, who sits on the regulatory review panel of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control, said education is important not only for physicians and nurses, but anyone who could come into contact with a patient or his bodily fluids, including housekeeping staff, technicians and security officers.
1199 SEIU President George Gresham, Bernard Tyson, chair and CEO of Kaiser Permanente and chair of the Partnership for Quality Care; Dr. Mary Bassett, commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; and Dr. Howard Zucker, acting commissioner of the New York State Department of Health, are expected to be at the event, which will be 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Javits Center on Manhattan's West Side.
Follow Adam Rubenfire on Twitter: @arubenfire
