Earlier this month, MedStar Health, Children’s National, & Johns Hopkins Medicine hosted their 2nd Annual Region 3 Special Pathogens & Emerging Infectious Disease Symposium bringing together a diverse group of high consequence infectious disease (HCID) subject matter experts from specialties across critical care, emergency medicine, emergency medical services (EMS), public health, hospital medicine, healthcare administration, infectious disease, internal medicine, and emergency management. SPECTRE’s Kara Marshall, MPH was awarded the opportunity to attend this collaborative 2-day conference in Washington D.C., where she was able to connect with and meet other Regional Emerging Special Pathogens Treatment Center (RESPTC) representatives from across the nation.
Experts in the field presented on a variety of highly significant topics including:
- The Evolution of the National Special Pathogen System (NSPS)
- Special pathogen Programmatic Design and Administration
- Developing Special Pathogen Data Stratification Tools,
- Ethical Considerations in Biocontainment Care,
- Integrating Regional Structures into Healthcare Coalitions and Local Systems,
- New Joint Commission HCID Expectations
- and many other discussions on biocontainment staff retention and recruitment, lessons learned from RESPTC exercises, etc.
The Region 3 Special Pathogens & Emerging Infectious Disease Symposium was filled with invaluable and highly relevant information about the future of our nation’s 13 RESPTCs, and the vital role all healthcare facilities, public health professionals, and EMS play in HCID preparedness and response.