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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Hospital officials in several of North Carolina's largest cities say they have protective gear and procedures ready in case they need to treat an Ebola patient.
The Associated Press spoke to hospital officials in Asheville, Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh as part of an informal survey on Ebola preparedness. The hospitals were among 102 contacted across the country by the AP.
Hospitals in other North Carolina cities have also touted their preparedness in recent weeks.
Mission Hospital in Asheville, Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, WakeMed Hospital in Raleigh and Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro each have protective suits — also known as personal protective equipment or PPE that leave no skin exposed.
"Additionally, after donning the PPE suit a buddy makes a visual inspection of the staff member prior to entry to assure there is no visible skin exposure," said Douglas Allred, spokesman for the parent company of Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital.
Each of the four has procedures in place for quarantining patients, removing gear and hand sanitizing. Each has trained its staff on the procedures.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced new guidelines Monday night calling in part for health workers caring for Ebola patients to wear gear that leaves no part of the body exposed.
The CDC says there have been three confirmed cases of Ebola in the U.S. linked to a patient in Texas. No cases have been reported in North Carolina.
Mission Hospital, WakeMed and Carolinas Medical Center would require staffers to wear three layers of gloves if they treated an Ebola patient, which goes beyond CDC guidelines of two pairs.
"Because a caregiver may need to change gloves in between tasks while providing care to a patient, Mission providers will wear a third pair of exam gloves over the two recommended layers that may be changed in between tasks," said Jacie Volkman, director of infection prevention and epidemiology for Mission Health.
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