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How EMS can practice CDC guidelines for Ebola patients

Here’s a look at what the agency recommends for patient assessments, proper PPE, disinfecting transport vehicles, and reporting incidents

The CDC published recommendations for how EMS providers should manage Ebola, as three cases have now been reported in the U.S.

The news has panicked some local areas. Parents are pulling their children out of schools, attending town hall meetings, and communicating their fears to their local congressmen

As EMS providers, there is the strong possibility that we will have to care for a patient with Ebola, or another communicable disease.

In this video, I review the CDC guidelines, which provide a brief overview of Ebola, the symptoms, and how it is transmitted. I also present the agency’s recommendations of performing a patient assessment, infection control, the proper use of PPE, cleaning EMS transport vehicles, and follow up/reporting measures.

We have all been taught in school how to perform all of these procedures, but how often is it correctly performed? I highly advise you to practice these procedures for all of your patients, because we never know when we will transport that “one.”

Jon Puryear, NREMT-P, has been active in EMS since 1983. He has been an active paramedic since 1992 including being an educator and Field Training Officer for several employers. He was the Assistant to the Medical Director for Dr. John Griswell in Ft. Worth, Texas, for EPAB/MedStar EMS and the Education/Clinical Coordinator for CareFlite in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metropolitan area. Jon is the owner of Jon Puryear EMS CE, performing online live streaming and recorded EMS CE classes and refreshers. The live online classes are taught in a virtual instructor-led online live classroom, which allows the student to participate in “real time.” These classes may be taken from any computer or iPad/Apple TV with internet access and no travel is required. Many recorded classes are available in his online Learning Management System. Jon performs a 16 hour NREMT prep onsite to initial programs, and also a recorded version online designed to prepare students for their NREMT written examination. You may contact Jon and obtain more information about his services at www.jonpuryear.com.

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