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The outbreak of Ebola virus disease that has claimed more than 1,000 lives in West Africa this year poses a serious, ongoing threat to that region: the spread to capital cities and Nigeria-Africa's most populous nation-presents new challenges for healthcare professionals. The situation has garnered significant attention and fear around the world, but proven public health measures and sharpened clinical vigilance will contain the epidemic and thwart a global spread, according to a new commentary by Anthony S. Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.

In a Quick Safety message to its accredited facilities in May, the Joint Commission (JC) alerted healthcare organizations regarding surveyor observations of increased non-compliance with standard IC.02.02.01, which requires accredited facilities to reduce the risk of infections associated with medical equipment, devices and supplies. Last year, according to the Joint Commission, this aforementioned standard was one of the top five non-compliant requirements for JC-accredited hospitals, critical-access hospitals, and ambulatory and office-based surgery facilities.

As sterile processing department (SPD) professionals, the questions often heard asked by surgeons, nurses and scrub techs are: “Where are my instruments?” or “Where are my supplies?” These two questions are usually asked when patients are already in the operating room (OR) suite prepped for a lifesaving procedure, when at this point any significant delay could result in infection or death. Occasionally the answer is “I don’t know,” which escalates the situation, resulting in high levels of anxiety for all parties involved. Unfortunately for SPD providers, during a busy day the answer is true, they simply do not know. When the search begins it can be hampered by numerous conversations and phone calls followed by panic for reasons which the OR has little understanding. 

A nasal brush test can rapidly and accurately diagnose Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), an incurable and ultimately fatal neurodegenerative disorder, according to a study by National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists and their Italian colleagues.