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By SUSAN DIETERLE Officials at Stanford University Medical Center have finalized procedures for treating patients who may have been exposed to anthrax and are working to ensure that doctors and nurses at Stanford's two hospitals have up-to-date information for dealing with the bacteria.Because of the recent spate of anthrax-contaminated mail on the East Coast, medical center officials appointed a Bioterrorism and Emergency Preparedness Planning Task Force to prepare Stanford's hospitals and School of Medicine for dealing with potential cases of anthrax exposure or other bioterrorism threats. To date, no anthrax cases have been reported in the western United States and there have been no patients treated for anthrax exposure at either Stanford Hospital or Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. Hospitals throughout the country, however, are preparing for the scenario of treating anthrax cases. Additionally, hospitals are dealing with patients who have encountered powdery substances they fear could be tainted with anthrax or other biological agents. Eric A. Weiss, MD, an emergency department physician at Stanford Hospital and co-chair of the task force, said plans are in place for treating potential anthrax cases at Stanford's hospitals. The plans have two purposes – to ensure the health and proper treatment of the patient, and to limit the potential exposure of hospital staff and facilities. "If a patient has been exposed to a bioterrorism agent and the emergency department and personnel become contaminated, we may have to close down the emergency department and be unable to help other patients," said Weiss, who is also an assistant professor of surgery (emergency medicine) in the School of Medicine. "We don't want that to happen." One plan outlines a method for managing individual patients who may have been exposed to a biological agent and preventing its spread. The second plan outlines how a variety of departments and personnel within the hospitals would respond to an incident in which multiple patients were victims of bioterrorism. The policies and procedures for both plans are being continually modified and updated in accordance with frequent changes from the national Centers for Disease Control and the local health department, Weiss said. "The information about anthrax is changing rapidly," he said. "The cases being treated on the East Coast vary from what has been reported in the medical literature, and we have to adapt our understanding in light of these differences. We want to do everything possible to keep our staff informed." Weiss said the task force is also working to ensure that doctors, nurses and other health care workers in the hospitals know and understand the plans, and that they receive as much information as possible about anthrax. He noted that the information is being shared with physicians in the community so that they can respond appropriately. Weiss added that he and other members of the task force are working in concert with local law-enforcement agencies as well as local, state and national health officials in developing the response plans.
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Stanford Report, October 31, 2001
