This project for a deployable unit, supported by the ARS Pays de la Loire, is a first in France in the management of emerging biological risk. The Elytron is a device designed by the company Utilis in close collaboration with the hospital teams at the University Hospital. If a patient were to arrive with symptoms of Viral Hemorrhagic Fever such as Ebola, the REB team at Angers University Hospital would then be mobilized. Objective ? Deploy this semi-rigid equipment near emergencies and medical intensive care in less than 3 hours. All this while respecting the technical constraints necessary for the establishment of a High Isolation Unit. Following the principle of forward movement, the Elytron is made up of a treatment room, an entrance airlock providing access to two negative pressure rooms, each equipped with an exit airlock. The air is treated and released safely. The mobile and modular nature of the Elytron offers the possibility for health authorities to relocate this expertise locally or abroad to provide support as close as possible to the health crisis situation.
The objectives of this isolation are multiple: To isolate the patient as quickly as possible and provide him with optimal care, the time to confirm or refute the diagnosis; Avoid any spread of highly pathogenic infection to hospital caregivers; Guarantee the safety of other patients; Carry out the diagnostic sample safely to confirm or rule out the highly pathogenic infection; Secure care while waiting for the patient to be transferred to a healthcare service at the University Hospital if the diagnosis is refuted or to the Rennes University Hospital, a national reference health establishment for REB risk if infection by a highly pathogenic agent is confirmed. “From an all-or-nothing logic, crisis management must evolve towards a posture of permanent monitoring with variable crisis intensities, from a matter of specialists with great technical expertise, it must constitute a collective culture allowing the greater number of people to have essential reflexes… In this context it is also a question of equipping themselves and this is the reason why it seemed relevant to us to equip the ESR-R with the Elytron, to which the Ministry of health provided funding »estimates Karen Burban-Evain, Director of Public and Environmental Health-ARS PDL.
Training and scenarios
Since the acquisition of the Elytron, teams have been training in its use with the support of CESU, the Emergency Care Teaching Center. Ultimately, at the hospital level, 80 hospital staff – mainly caregivers (1) – will be mobilized in the event of a REB alert. At this stage it is about learning how to deploy and put the Elytron into service. Training, through the implementation of simulated emergency situations, allows them to develop their expertise. During this training, the following are covered: Dressing and undressing with PPE (personal protective equipment), visor, mask, gloves, waterproof suit, boots; Specific patient care procedures; Biocleaning procedures. This equipment measuring 9.3 m by 6 m with a height of 2.6 m, making it possible to manage 2 people at a time, represents an investment of 325,283 euros for the ELYTRON and an additional 100,000 euros in material investments. To carry out this acquisition, the University Hospital benefited from FMIS funding (Fund for Modernization and Investment in Health) and support from the ARS Pays de la Loire.
(1) From emergency departments, intensive care units and infectious diseases (SMIT)
