Nursing

Education and surveillance are keys to West Nile preparedness

Nurse Leader Weekly, September 12, 2003

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With several human cases of West Nile virus turning up across the United States, hospital infection control (IC) departments must be alert for signs of the mosquito-borne illness.

In 2002, West Nile virus killed 284 people and more than 4,000 cases were reported across the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As of press-time, the CDC reported 2,874 human cases of West Nile and 53 deaths in 35 states this year.

There are four steps that IC professionals should take to prepare for West Nile virus cases in their facilities, says Gail Bennett, RN, MSN, CIC, executive director of ICP Associates in Rome, GA.

The actions are as follows:

  • Educate health care workers, including emergency department, clinic, and outpatient staff about various aspects of West Nile virus (such as demographics, clinical presentation, diagnostic methods, and treatment options)
  • Encourage among employees a high state of awareness of the personal risk of West Nile and protective strategies
  • Residential facilities and programs should educate and provide programs that tell patients what precautions to take when participating in outdoor activities
  • IC professionals should work with facilities management to eliminate or treat any and all sources of standing water (i.e., fountains), since they could become breeding grounds for mosquitoes

Watching for signs of infectious disease is a full-time job for IC and other hospital departments these days, with West Nile, SARS, monkeypox, and many other illnesses identified as possible threats to the community.

"Facilities are much more proactive in looking at their environment," says Bennett. Alerting your hospital's maintenance and facilities department to potential sources of disease and infection can play a large role in prevention.

"The key is catching it early and preventing it from spreading," Bennett says.

Educating staff about West Nile and other infectious diseases is challenging because of the need to constantly disseminate new information. Some creative ways to do this include the following:

  • In-house newsletters to alert employees of emerging infectious diseases and the appropriate infection control precautions to take
  • Posters
  • Pocket cards or quick reference guides
  • Posted IC updates on the facility's intranet
  • E-mail alerts
  • Attachments to employee paychecks

Taken from Briefings on Infection Control: http://www.hcmarketplace.com/Prod.cfm?id=1721&s=ENMW



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