The evolution of infectious disease prevention and protocols in the Canadian healthcare industry are keeping pace with seemingly constant threats, according to an article on the Chatham Daily News.

“In a Canadian healthcare facility we are so well-equipped,” said Carol Turner, the coordinator for infection prevention and control at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance.

“One of the things that we came up with two years ago is this navigation tool that is on the Intranet,” she said in the article. “This provides them (staff) with everything they need for their education and information, medical directives and policies, patient education, the attached Occupational Health and Safety policy, and additional information that might be helpful to them.”

Every ambulance has appropriate personal protective equipment including gloves, masks, face shields and gowns. That equipment is updated depending on the particular transmission traits of the infectious disease being treated.

The hospitals have similar protocols.

“We've put together this guidance document that talks about all the things that the staff and physicians need to know,” Turner said. “What kind of personal protective equipment, screening and testing. And if we actually have a suspect case, how do we place them, how do we care for them, that sort of thing.”

Read the article.