Biomed and clinical engineering departments in healthcare facilities across the country are bracing for a possible swine flu pandemic.

Although the severity of the swine flu appears to have diminished at press time, cases have been reported throughout the country, sparking many hospitals to prepare for the worst.

“We increased surveillance activities for patients with the flu,” says Ken Maddock, corporate director of biomedical technology services for Baylor Healthcare in Texas, a state that has reported more than 500 confirmed and probable cases of swine flu.“We isolated those patients and performed screening tests.”

Biomed departments should look to their hospital administrators, epidemiologists, and infection control practitioners for guidance on protecting themselves and patients.

“The main thing for us is increased hand washing. Our hospital administration has been emphasizing that we have hand sanitizer stations throughout” the facility, says Izabella Gieras, ARAMARK Healthcare director of the clinical engineering department at The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, a state that has more than 200 confirmed and probable cases of swine flu.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently revised its guidelines to require that healthcare workers wear the N95 respirator mask when in the presence of someone who has the flu.

This guideline extends to biomeds. “If a technician has been called into room 27, and it is a patient that has a swine flu then that technician has to wear the N95 mask and follow the contact isolation guidelines,” says George Mills, senior engineer with the standards interpretation group of the Joint Commission, which includes pandemic response in its emergency management standards.

If a pandemic occurs, biomeds will need to perform the same duties, except under extreme circumstances. “We just need to make sure we fix equipment as fast as possible,” Maddock says. “There would probably be an increased priority placed on the repairs of certain types of equipment such as ventilators.”

The situation would resemble other emergency scenarios such as a mass casualty event or power problem. “What we do is frequently visit the higher acuity care areas such as intensive care units and pay more attention to them,” Maddock says. “Our guys will be a constant presence in critical areas.”

Even if the flu doesn’t reach pandemic levels, the preparations are still important, Maddock says. “It is possible that the precautions that have been taken have helped to diminish the severity of the spread of the flu,” he says.

AAMI News: June 2009, Vol. 44, No. 6