An interactive web-based guide for healthcare workers who may come into contact with Ebola is on its way, courtesy of a collaboration between Johns Hopkins Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Three modules will be available for free on the CDC's website, covering proper donning of personal protective equipment, safe removal of PPE and active monitoring skills. The modules will also be available via iTunes U.

The development team included a nationwide panel of experts in infectious disease, nursing, systems engineering, content development and visual design. To narrow the gap between recommendations and reality, the systems engineers observed a team of biocontainment experts at Johns Hopkins Hospital to try to better understand the environment and constraints that nurses and other clinicians face when caring for patients who may have Ebola. The full team then searched CDC guidelines for possible discrepancies between written instructions and the actions performed by providers.

Jim Burger