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 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-CoV flowcharts, a more strict and explicit triage process was established to ensure early identification of suspected MERS-CoV 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. Two new teams were formed: 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.