Cornelius Brian, Cornelius Angela, Crisafi Leah, Collins Christine, McCarthy Stacy, Foster Corrine, Shannon Heather, Bennett Ray, Brown Steven, Rodriguez Kristy, Bachini Steven
Department of Health and Human Services, National Disaster Medical System, Washington DC; Department of Anesthesia, Ochsner Louisiana State University Health, Shreveport, LA; Midwestern University, Glendale, AZ.
Department of Health and Human Services, National Disaster Medical System, Washington DC; Department of Emergency Medicine, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center.
Air Med J. 2020 Jul-Aug;39(4):251-256. doi: 10.1016/j.amj.2020.04.005. Epub 2020 May 7.
Recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) events have presented challenges to health care systems worldwide. Air medical movement of individuals with potential infectious disease poses unique challenges and threats to crews and receiving personnel. The US Department of Health and Human Services air medical evacuation teams of the National Disaster Medical System directly supported 39 flights, moving over 2,000 individuals. Infection control precautions focused on source and engineering controls, personal protective equipment, safe work practices to limit contamination, and containment of the area of potential contamination. Source control to limit transmission distance was used by requiring all passengers to wear masks (surgical masks for persons under investigation and N95 for known positives). Engineering controls used plastic sheeting to segregate and treat patients who developed symptoms while airborne. Crews used Tyvek (Dupont Richmond, VA) suits with booties and a hood, a double layer of gloves, and either a powered air-purifying respirator or an N95 mask with a face shield. For those outside the 6-ft range, an N95 mask and gloves were worn. Safe work practices were used, which included mandatory aircraft surface decontamination, airflow exchanges, and designated lavatories. Although most patients transported were stable, to the best of our knowledge, this represents the largest repatriation of potentially contagious patients in history without infection of any transporting US Department of Health and Human Services air medical evacuation crews.
近期的2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）疫情给全球医疗系统带来了挑战。对患有潜在传染病的人员进行空中医疗转运，给机组人员和接收人员带来了独特的挑战和威胁。美国卫生与公众服务部国家灾害医疗系统的空中医疗后送团队直接支持了39次航班，运送了2000多名人员。感染控制预防措施集中在源头控制和工程控制、个人防护装备、限制污染的安全工作规范以及潜在污染区域的围堵。通过要求所有乘客佩戴口罩（对接受调查的人员佩戴外科口罩，对已知阳性人员佩戴N95口罩）来进行源头控制以限制传播距离。工程控制措施是使用塑料布对在空中出现症状的患者进行隔离和治疗。机组人员穿着带有鞋套和头罩的特卫强（杜邦公司，弗吉尼亚州里士满）防护服、双层手套，并佩戴动力空气净化呼吸器或配有面罩的N95口罩。对于距离在6英尺范围之外的人员，佩戴N95口罩和手套。采用了安全工作规范，包括对飞机表面进行强制性消毒、空气流通交换以及指定卫生间。尽管运送的大多数患者病情稳定，但据我们所知，这是历史上最大规模的潜在传染性患者遣返行动，且没有感染任何参与运送的美国卫生与公众服务部空中医疗后送机组人员。
