On October 23, the BCU team hosted a tabletop exercise to discuss the logistics behind transporting and caring for pediatric patients with suspected Lassa fever. In a real-life scenario, a patient transport would require coordination and communication with many of our local and state representatives. We partnered with Frederick Memorial Hospital, a Maryland Special Pathogen(...)
Biocontainment Unit
Maryland Department of Health Readiness Program
Posted by | Patient CareOver the summer, the BCU team and the Maryland Department of Health (MDH) developed a statewide training and education program aimed at supporting and providing resources to frontline and assessment hospitals throughout the state. As a part of this program, the BCU team will travel to each of the five Special Pathogen Assessment Hospitals (SPAH) in(...)
Operation Limelight
Posted by | Patient CareOn Wednesday, August 29, the BCU team held a short exercise called Operation Limelight for congressional staffers and media outlets. Operation Limelight was a demonstration of several aspects of an activated unit including patient admission via an Isopod, personal protective equipment (PPE) donning and doffing procedures, autoclave operations, laboratory specimen processing and adaptive communication via(...)
Rounding Out the Summer
Posted by | Patient CareThe BCU is rounding out its quarterly validations for the month of August. Twenty-six nurses, eight laboratory technicians, six respiratory therapists, three radiology technicians, 17 providers and 13 infection control personnel completed over 200 total hours of training. One of the more fun training objectives included the annual fire extinguisher training with personnel from the(...)
BCU Super User Retreat
Posted by | Patient CareJade Flinn, BCU nurse educator, is developing and training eight dedicated nurse clinicians to lead and facilitate training sessions and activate the unit in Jade’s absence. This will add a greater degree of preparedness and sustainability to our unit’s unique needs through the sharing of knowledge and responsibility. Shelby Cahill, Dauryne Shaffer, Grace Carter, Sam(...)
June News
Posted by | Patient CareOn June 4-5, the BCU team travelled to Minneapolis for the third annual summit of the National Ebola Training and Education Center (NETEC). This two-day conference brought together representatives from the ten Regional Ebola and Special Pathogens Treatment Centers (RESPTCs) as well as officials from the CDC, WHO, ASPR and NIOSH. The summit focused on(...)
We’re Published!
Posted by | Patient CareOn March 14, the BCU published its first manuscript describing a new methodology to study how infectious pathogens travel through our clinical space. In partnership with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, we used a cough machine named “Barney” to recreate a human cough composed of fluorescent microbeads. We then used sensors placed throughout the(...)
The Ocho Drill
Posted by | Patient CareOn Tuesday, February, the Biocontainment Unit hosted the National Ebola Training Center (NETEC) for its annual site assessment. Representatives from Nebraska Medical, Emory and New York Bellevue hospitals came together to discuss the progress the Johns Hopkins BCU has made in the last year and observed BCU staff in a full scale exercise, the Ocho(...)
The BCU Receives Discovery Grant
Posted by | Patient CareThe BCU is excited to be a 2018 recipient of the Fisher Center Discovery Program grant. Brian Garibaldi and Lauren Sauer were awarded the grant for their project entitled, “Environmental transmission and traceability of aerosolized bio-simulants in a clinical biocontainment unit." The grant will allow the BCU to continue its partnership with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab(...)
Garibaldi and Sauer Receive Fisher Center Discovery Program Grant
Posted by | CongratulationsBrian Garibaldi, assistant professor in the Division of Pulmonary and medical director of the Biocontainment Unit (BCU), and Lauren Sauer, assistant professor in Emergency Medicine and director of research for the BCU, received a 2018 Fisher Center Discovery Program (FCDP) grant for their project "Environmental transmission and traceability of aerosolized bio-simulants in a clinical biocontainment(...)