PCRF Abstracts - Details View

ABSTRACTS

 

What Hidden Threats May Be Impacting or Harming Your Employees and Those You Serve? Pathogen Detection and Mitigating These Potential Threats Can Impact Absenteeism, Community, and Client and Patient Outcomes

Author: Ward Eggli | |

Associate Authors: Melissa Balinsky

 

Introduction

Response willingness is essential to the operation of EMS. Based on a study of a representative sample of EMS personnel, 12% of workers would not voluntarily respond in a pandemic influenza emergency and 7% would not be willing to respond even if required to do so. During crises, this increases the likelihood of service reduction for services that have chronically open positions and that are subject to shift limits. Furthermore, a study at Lethbridge University found and identified relevant levels of pathogens in ambulances despite current protocols. This risk beyond the ill patient was expected to increase staff anxiety surrounding their own health and the risk transmitted to those the live with and care for. However, workers that are confident in the safety of their work environment are more than 3 times as likely to respond in their community.

Methods

Cleaning and disinfection practices were evaluated to determine best practice and to see if staff sick time could be affected by optimizing the protocols. Various solutions including automated disinfection were evaluated against 5 variables - cost, efficacy, ease-of-use, safety, and impact on operational flow (derived from time to disinfect). Solutions with the highest overall positive impact were deployed in predetermined EMS stations for trial.

Results and Conclusion

Based on the analysis the automated disinfection system performed the best overall. Surface swabbing pre- and disinfection determined that all bacteria were eliminated from target surfaces. Based on laboratory-based tests, it was determined that the same level efficacy could be expected against viruses, which could not be evaluated with the swabbing methods available. Staff reporting indicated that overall time spent disinfecting the environment was reduced due to the automated nature of the system. Cleaning time remained unchanged. There was a positive impact on staff’s perceived protection from contamination risk. The system has since been deployed to EMS, police, fire, and transit services. The impact of these measures on sick time is a research goal for the future.