{"id":6428,"date":"2021-08-31T11:02:53","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T15:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/neidl\/?p=6428"},"modified":"2021-08-31T11:02:53","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T15:02:53","slug":"special-pathogens-unit-nurses-are-already-preparing-for-the-next-new-virus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/neidl\/2021\/08\/special-pathogens-unit-nurses-are-already-preparing-for-the-next-new-virus\/","title":{"rendered":"Special Pathogens Unit Nurses Are Already Preparing for the Next New Virus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Original article from Health City <\/strong>By Meryl Bailey. August 3<\/span><\/span>, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

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When COVID-19 hit, it proved how vital the SPU’s trainings, simulations, and drills were. Nurses were ready to retool hospital procedures in response.
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At first glimpse, the three rooms with railed beds in Boston Medical Center’s Menino building in a small alcove off floor 7 West look like any other hospital treatment areas. But the curious observer might notice slight differences that set the space apart. A glance underfoot will reveal the floor’s subtle progression from cool tones near the door to much warmer tones near the bed. A swivel of the head will show that the privacy blinds close between the glass panes on the doors. Scanning the walls above, a video camera and intercom system dot the corner near the ceiling.<\/p>\n

This is Boston Medical Center’s Special Pathogens Unit<\/a> (SPU), a state-of-the-art treatment space built to provide care for people who have been infected with the world’s most lethal emerging pathogens:\u00a0 hemorrhagic fevers like Ebola<\/a> and Lassa<\/a> and highly contagious respiratory infections like SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV.<\/p>\n

How the special pathogens unit at Boston Medical Center works<\/h2>\n

Built in 2015, the SPU is a containment and treatment ward developed primarily to support researchers working at the nearby National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratories<\/a> (NEIDL), one of only two laboratories in the nation where researchers work to advance treatments for biosafety level 4 infectious agents, agents with a high mortality rate and no known cure. These researchers must don space-like positive-pressure suits before stepping through a series of containment rooms to look through a microscope. A researcher would be transported to BMC’s SPU for observation and care in the unlikely case of pathogen exposure.<\/p>\n

Every square inch of the SPU is designed to contain the spread of infection<\/a>. The surfaces are poreless and seamless for easy sanitization and decontamination. The specially designed pressurized airflow system cleans the air through a series of filters. To answer the questions of the curious observer new to the SPU: The color progression on the floor? A reminder to caregivers about the increased level of infection as they near the patient’s bed. The video camera and intercom? Necessary for the buddy-system approach to care that ensures the safety of physicians and nurses treating patients.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Click to Read Full Article on Health City<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Original article from Health City By Meryl Bailey. August 3,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6107,"featured_media":6429,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3075,1298],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/neidl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6428"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/neidl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/neidl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/neidl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/neidl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6428"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/neidl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6430,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/neidl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6428\/revisions\/6430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/neidl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/neidl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/neidl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/neidl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}