Jonathan D. Grein, MD, is Director, both in Hospital Epidemiology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA.
Jennifer A. Garland, RN-BC, PhD, CIC, is Special Pathogens Clinical Program Manager, both in Hospital Epidemiology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA.
Health Secur. 2022 Jun;20(S1):S4-S12. doi: 10.1089/hs.2021.0188. Epub 2022 Apr 27.
The National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center (NETEC) was established in 2015 to improve the capabilities of healthcare facilities to provide safe and effective care to patients with Ebola and other special pathogens in the United States. Through NETEC, a collaborative network of 10 Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Centers (RESPTCs) undertook readiness activities that included potential respiratory pathogens. These preparations, which took place before the COVID-19 pandemic, established a foundation of readiness that enabled RESPTCs to play a pivotal role in the US COVID-19 pandemic response. As initial COVID-19 cases were detected in the United States, RESPTCs provided essential isolation capacity, supplies, and subject matter expertise that allowed for additional time for healthcare systems to prepare. Through the Special Pathogen Research Network, RESPTCs rapidly enrolled patients into early clinical trials. During periods of high community transmission, RESPTCs provided educational, clinical, and logistical support to a wide range of healthcare and nonhealthcare settings. In this article, we describe how NETEC and the RESPTC network leveraged this foundation of special pathogen readiness to strengthen the national healthcare system's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. NETEC and the RESPTC network have proven to be an effective model that can support the national response to future emerging special pathogens.
国家新兴特殊病原体培训与教育中心（NETEC）成立于 2015 年，旨在提高美国医疗机构为埃博拉和其他特殊病原体患者提供安全有效护理的能力。通过 NETEC，10 个区域新兴特殊病原体治疗中心（RESPTC）的协作网络开展了准备活动，包括潜在的呼吸道病原体。这些准备工作发生在 COVID-19 大流行之前，为 RESPTC 在 COVID-19 大流行期间在美国的应对工作中发挥关键作用奠定了基础。随着 COVID-19 在美国的最初病例被发现，RESPTC 提供了必要的隔离能力、物资和专题知识，使医疗系统有更多的时间进行准备。通过特殊病原体研究网络，RESPTC 迅速将患者纳入早期临床试验。在社区传播高峰期，RESPTC 为广泛的医疗和非医疗保健机构提供教育、临床和后勤支持。在本文中，我们描述了 NETEC 和 RESPTC 网络如何利用这一特殊病原体准备基础来加强国家医疗系统对 COVID-19 大流行的应对。NETEC 和 RESPTC 网络已被证明是一种有效的模式，可以支持国家对未来新兴特殊病原体的应对。
