Perceptions of postoutbreak management by management and healthcare workers of a Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak in a tertiary care hospital: a qualitative study

Al Knawy, Bandar Abdulmohsen; Al-Kadri, Hanan M F; Elbarbary, Mahmoud; Arabi, Yaseen; Balkhy, Hanan H; Clark, Alex

Management of the MERS outbreak at KAMC-R is an example of collective leadership practice F o r p e e r r e v i e w o n l y 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 In addition to the IDEP plan, which was established in 2013 with the detailed MERS flowcharts, a more strict and explicit triage process was established to ensure early identification of suspected MERS cases. This was added as the first layer of the patient triage process and implemented in the newly established drive-through system to the ER, and at the entrances of the ACC. Once a patient has entered the main ER, a second screening would take place to identify any possible cases that may have been missed by the first process. CMT, a medical team managing all admitted patients with respiratory illness and CPRT, an outreach team responsible to ensure proper location, testing, transfer, discharge and consultation for suspected and confirmed MERS cases.