Managing your red, yellow and greens – A guide to safely manage transportation of highly contagious pathogens

Transportation of highly contagious pathogens in the air ambulance environment is significantly different from the hospital setting. Not only is the patient confined to a specific ward or room in the hospital setting, but exposure to the patient can be controlled far more easily. In the air ambulance environment, the patient is being moved and thus all traditional methods to maintain barrier nursing principles need to be adjusted. Air Rescue Africa (ARA) operates two Isoark units specifically for the transport of highly contagious pathogens. A safe transport guide was essential for the safe and appropriate actions of medical flight crew.The concept of a red, yellow and green zone was applied to the air ambulance transport environment and guidelines developed. These guidelines describe to the finest detail as when to engage with the patient, washing of the unit before moving into a new zone and when to undo a layer of protective clothing. Not all transferring facilities have these zoning principles in place for a safe transfer into the Patient Isolation Unit, so medical flight crew have to set up their own zoning system prior to examining a patient. A safety officer (3rd crew member) is responsible for monitoring the movement. This is done by following a step by step guide. The goal of this guide is to ensure safe movement of the patient in the isolation unit from the red zone, into the green zone, to ensure the unit can now be touched by flight and medical crew without the risk of exposure to the infected patient. The crew can now operate normally without having to wear protective gear in the aircraft, while the patient is safely and completely isolated.These principles take meticulous planning, training and re-training of crew to ensure safe transportation of highly infectious diseases. In this presentation we will share various ideas and principles developed in house to cater for this very unique patient transport modality