麻豆精选

麻豆精选Hosts National Institute of Health鈥檚 Biosafety Training

麻豆精选, one of only two officially designated National Biosafety and Biocontainment Training Program facilities, recently hosted a biosafety training course for professionals across the country.Possessing one of only two officially designated National Biosafety and Biocontainment Training Program facilities, 麻豆精选 recently hosted a week-long education course for professionals across the country.

In Kent State鈥檚 BSL-3 training laboratory, attendees learned how to function safely and effectively in a high-containment facility, but in the absence of pathogen dangers, according to Christopher Woolverton, Ph.D., 麻豆精选professor of environmental health and director of the Center for Public Health Preparedness.

鈥淚t鈥檚 like an airline pilot training in a simulator,鈥 Woolverton says. 鈥淔or example, when people working in containment labs put on personal protective equipment, many don鈥檛 know what to do. Here they adjust to having a respirator on, breathing their own air, and to losing dexterity from the other pieces of protective equipment, without having to worry about dropping test tubes of deadly pathogens.鈥

The course curriculum was co-developed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Frontline Healthcare Workers Safety Foundation, Ltd. and Kent State鈥檚 College of Public Health. Training program attendees earned a certificate from the NIH, and the course served as one component for the NIH鈥檚 two-year fellowship program in biosafety and biocontainment.

The laboratory is equipped with two self-closing doors with an anteroom; three biological safety cabinets; special ventilation, sterilization and sanitation equipment; an alcove for projects; and training cameras and a monitoring room, among other facilities and equipment required for BSL-3 training toward certification.

During the training week, students learned specific methods for maintaining a safe laboratory, what infectious agents are and the risks in working with them, the proper use of personal protection equipment, decontamination strategies, and about sources of infectious organisms and the antibiotics used to treat exposure.

鈥淭hey learned how to appropriately protect themselves and others around them from contamination,鈥 Woolverton says. 鈥淭here was a considerable hands-on component to the course, as students learned about correct actions, then enacted various hazardous scenarios. There are cameras around the lab, and we videotaped the trainees at work.

鈥淔or each individual, we can edit his or her activity into a 30-minute video, showing what went well and what needs to be worked on. It鈥檚 a very effective education tool,鈥 he adds. 鈥淲hen we see ourselves doing wrong things, it鈥檚 not often that we do them again.鈥

Trainees came from all over the country. They may work as university safety officers, in the private sector in labs where pathogens are kept for drug research use or as maintenance workers changing filters and repairing equipment in high-containment labs.

鈥淭here are many organizations that need lab workers who are competent and will be successful in high-containment conditions,鈥 says Woolverton. 鈥淚n addition, there will be a number of folks planning to go into the two-year NIH program, and our course is one of the components of that.鈥

All participants were vetted via the NIH registration process and must have demonstrated a real need for the training. 鈥淪o we don鈥檛 inadvertently train a potential terrorist,鈥 Woolverton says.

麻豆精选is one of only two high-containment training laboratories, along with Kansas State University鈥檚 Biosecurity Research Institute, which was certified by the NIH in 2008.

The lab was established with $3 million in appropriations from the Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Education.

鈥淎fter the anthrax attacks in 2001, I concluded that universities weren鈥檛 doing enough to prevent that kind of situation,鈥 recalls Woolverton.

With the support of university administration, he pursued state and federal funding, ultimately receiving funds to build the facility and to develop curricular materials for trainees in the lab, along with other educational materials for K-12 students and for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. Students learned what would happen in case of a terrorist attack. In addition, a new sign-language lexicon was created, in collaboration with Harry Lang of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. The signs told people who cannot hear what to do during epidemics and in biocontamination events and also provided basic information about hand washing and antibiotics. Video clips were produced, using sign language, as well as cartoons, which assisted the deaf and hard-of-hearing, and people with low reading levels.

In addition to the NIH training, Kent State鈥檚 Center for Public Health Preparedness conducts training for lab workers from area hospitals, working with the Akron Regional Hospital Association to instruct on lab safety and bioterrorism awareness and readiness. The center has also trained representatives from the Ohio Department of Health, the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the Ohio National Guard in lab safety, bioterrorism readiness and containment of pathogens.

鈥淩ight now, we are converting a number of curricular materials to offer them as continuing education for public health practitioners. We will be a supplier of online and in-person courses in which practitioners can share experiences and learn techniques from each other,鈥 Woolverton says.

For more information about Kent State鈥檚 College of Public Health, visit www.kent.edu/publichealth.

POSTED: Monday, July 29, 2013 12:00 AM
Updated: Saturday, December 3, 2022 01:02 AM
WRITTEN BY:
University Communications and Marketing

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