Preparing for patients with high-consequence infectious diseases: Example of a high-level isolation unit.

Frieder PfäfflinMiriam Songa StegemannKatrin Moira HeimStephan AchterbergUrsula PfitznerLouise GötzeLars OesterhelwegNorbert SuttorpChristian HerzogBenjamin StadtmannAlexander Uhrig
Published in: PloS one (2022)
Adequate preparation for the admission of patients with HCID is challenging. We show that joint regular trainings of doctors and nurses are appreciated and that training sessions may improve perceived skills. We also show that real-life scenario exercises may reveal additional deficits, which cannot be easily disclosed in training sessions. Although the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic interfered with our activities the enhanced cooperation among German HLIU during the pandemic ensured constant readiness for the admission of HCID patients to our or to collaborating HLIU. This is a single centre's experience, which may not be generalized to other centres. However, we believe that our work may address aspects that should be considered when preparing a unit for the admission of patients with HCID. These may then be adapted to the local situations.