Protecting Health Care Workers in Hospitals: The PRO PPE Sentinel Surveillance System for Contagious Pathogens

CME/MOC: 1.0
TRACK: Management and Administration in OEM

Muktar Aliyu, MD, DrPH, FACOEM, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
Melanie Swift, MD, FACOEM, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
Mary Yarbrough, MD, MPH, FACOEM, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN

In the event of a pandemic, a new highly contagious pathogen, or bioterrorism, health care worker (HCW) safety relies largely on the effective use of personal protective equipment (PPE). During the H1N1 influenza and Ebola outbreaks, hospitals experienced supply and training challenges related to implementing new CDC recommendations for PPE. The federal agencies who develop new recommendations are not privy to PPE inventory management systems in hospitals, and the strategic national stockpile cannot predict local demands without data on PPE makes and models for which HCW have been trained. Within a facility, stakeholders such as supply chain, occupational health, and emergency preparedness often operate independently. Nationally, there is a lack of clarity regarding US preparedness to protect HCWs while caring for large numbers of highly infectious patients in hospitals. This session will describe the development of a national surveillance system to monitor PPE supply and effective use in hospitals in collaboration with CDC-NIOSH. This session was organized by the Medical Center Occupational Health Special Interest Section.