Handling Europe's first Ebola case: internal hospital communication experience

Margarita Mosquera; Victoria Melendez; Pello Latasa

doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2015.01.015

Handling Europe's first Ebola case: internal hospital communication experience

Am J Infect Control. 2015 Apr 1;43(4):368-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2015.01.015. Epub 2015 Feb 24.

Authors

Margarita Mosquera¹, Victoria Melendez², Pello Latasa³

Affiliations

¹ Preventive Medicine Department, Alcorcón University Hospital Foundation, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: mmosquera@fhalcorcon.es.
² Internal Communication Department, Alcorcón University Hospital Foundation, Madrid, Spain.
³ Preventive Medicine Department, Alcorcón University Hospital Foundation, Madrid, Spain.

PMID: 25721062
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2015.01.015

Abstract

Europe's first Ebola virus disease (EVD) case was diagnosed in our hospital. There was an unjustified panic in the population because of an imbalance of credibility assigned to the media as opposed to scientific information. A reinforcement of hospital internal communication was needed to keep health care workers informed with up-to-date scientific EVD information. The proactive management of information flow to both internal and external actors is required to reduce unjustified fear within the public.

Keywords: Communications media; Ebola virus; Public health.

Publication types

Case Reports

MeSH terms

Adult
Communication*
Europe
Female
Health Personnel
Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / diagnosis*
Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / drug therapy*
Hospitals
Humans
Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional / prevention & control*