Building a Biocontainment Unit: Infrastructure and organizational experiences of the 13 regional biocontainment units in the United States.

The United States (US) system for special pathogen care began with a tiered structure in 2014 with the US experience treating patients with Ebola Virus Disease. Over the past decade, the federally funded US biocontainment units (BCUs), termed Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Centers (RESPTCs), have maintained operational readiness to care for patients afflicted by high-consequence infectious diseases. The RESPTC network has expanded in number of facilities and in scope, as the now 13 RESPTCs serve as regional resources for special pathogens preparedness; a role that has recently been formalized with the establishment of the National Special Pathogen System (NSPS). Lessons learned for maintaining infrastructure and operational readiness are shared with the intent of informing new and existing BCUs in the US and globally.

An Introduction to the Semantics and Statistics Behind the Firearm Policy Debates.

It is impossible to fully understand why the United States has consistently failed to protect its citizens from firearm violence until one understands some of the key discrepancies that exist at the center of the firearm policy debate. Differences in language, data categorization, and research related to firearms and their impacts in the United States contribute to confusion and debate between firearm policy advocates and opponents, ultimately stalling progress toward some common goals. As frontline health professionals, emergency nurses must be aware of these nuances in order to be informed advocates for the safety of their patients and their communities. Emergency nurses can use the information from this article to help inform screening and education related to firearm safety and injury prevention. They can also use this information to inform nursing research as well as local and national advocacy efforts related to firearm injuries and deaths.

A narrative review of high-level isolation unit operational and infrastructure features.

High-level isolation units (HLIUs) are specially designed facilities for care and management of patients with suspected or confirmed high-consequence infectious diseases (HCIDs), equipped with unique infrastructure and operational features. While individual HLIUs have published on their experiences caring for patients with HCIDs and two previous HLIU consensus efforts have outlined key components of HLIUs, we aimed to summarise the existing literature that describes best practices, challenges and core features of these specialised facilities. A narrative review of the literature was conducted using keywords associated with HLIUs and HCIDs. A total of 100 articles were used throughout the manuscript from the literature search or from alternate methods like reference checks or snowballing. Articles were sorted into categories (eg, physical infrastructure, laboratory, internal transport); for each category, a synthesis of the relevant literature was conducted to describe best practices, experiences and operational features. The review and summary of HLIU experiences, best practices, challenges and components can serve as a resource for units continuing to improve readiness, or for hospitals in early stages of developing their HLIU teams and planning or constructing their units. The COVID-19 pandemic, a global outbreak of mpox, sporadic cases of viral haemorrhagic fevers in Europe and the USA, and recent outbreaks of Lassa fever, Sudan Ebolavirus, and Marburg emphasise the need for an extensive summary of HLIU practices to inform readiness and response.