Issue

Vol. 1 No. 2 (2024)

Date Log

Submitted
April 1, 2026
Published
December 31, 2024

Copyright (c) 2024 Ashwaq Mohammed Tairan, Rawan Mohammed Abdu Gashoom, Shakr Ahmed Alghamdi, Abdulrahman Abbas Alotaibi, Rania Eid Awad Al-Arika, Bader Faiyadh Alshammari, Ayed Abutaleb Gaisi, Adel Abdulrahman Al Ljher, Ahmed Mohammed Alhefzi, Abrar Mohammed Abdulaziz Alahamdi, Turki Abdolkariem Mhamied, Maher Faisal Mawed Alhejaili, Meshael Falah Mohammed

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Development and Implementation of a High-Level Biocontainment Imaging Protocol for Patients with Severe Communicable Diseases: A Narrative Review

https://doi.org/10.64483/202412692
Ashwaq Mohammed Tairan
Jazan Health Cluster,Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia
Rawan Mohammed Abdu Gashoom
Jazan Specialty Hospital-Jazan Health Cluster,Ministry of Health , Saudi Arabia
Shakr Ahmed Alghamdi
Pharmaceutical Services Department, Khamis Mushait General Hospital, Aseer Health,Ministry of Health , Saudi Arabia
Abdulrahman Abbas Alotaibi
Ministry Of Health , Saudi Arabia
Rania Eid Awad Al-Arika
Ministry of health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Bader Faiyadh Alshammari
Hafar Al-Batin Maternity and Children's Hospital, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia
Ayed Abutaleb Gaisi
Samtah Primary Healthcare Center,Ministry of Health , Saudi Arabia
Adel Abdulrahman Al Ljher
Al-Qahmah General Hospital, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia
Ahmed Mohammed Alhefzi
Huraymila General Hospital – Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia
Abrar Mohammed Abdulaziz Alahamdi
Ministry Of Health, Saudi Arabia
Turki Abdolkariem Mhamied
Uhud hospital in Madinah,Ministry of Health , Saudi Arabia
Maher Faisal Mawed Alhejaili
King Fahd Hospital , Ministry of Health , Saudi Arabia
Meshael Falah Mohammed
Suhaymiyah Health Center – Riyadh Health Cluster 1,Ministry of Health , Saudi Arabia

Corresponding Author(s) : Ashwaq Mohammed Tairan

ashwaqmmm2024@gmail.com

Saudi Journal of Medicine and Public Health, Vol. 1 No. 2 (2024)

Abstract

Background: The emergence of high-consequence infectious diseases (HCIDs) such as Ebola virus disease, MERS-CoV, and novel respiratory pathogens has exposed critical gaps in healthcare infrastructure, particularly regarding the safe execution of diagnostic imaging for infected patients. Radiology suites, traditionally designed for routine workflows, present unique infection transmission risks due to patient transport requirements, equipment contamination potential, and the convergence of multiple disciplines during imaging procedures.


Aim: This narrative review aims to synthesize existing evidence and expert consensus on the multidisciplinary development and implementation of biocontainment imaging protocols, integrating perspectives to establish a framework for zero healthcare-associated transmission.


Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted across PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, and Web of Science for publications between 2015 and 2024. 


Results: The synthesis reveals that effective biocontainment imaging requires integration of portable and point-of-care imaging technologies within negative-pressure environments, rigorous nursing protocols for patient management and PPE adherence, pharmacy involvement in anteroom medication stabilization, risk-based scheduling algorithms coordinated by health information management, engineering controls including HEPA filtration and waste management, and competency-based simulation training for all staff.


Conclusion: A standardized, interprofessional biocontainment imaging protocol represents a critical infrastructure component for pandemic preparedness. Successful implementation depends on institutional commitment to simulation-based education, investment in portable imaging technologies, and the establishment of clear communication pathways among all disciplines involved.

Keywords

biocontainment, high-consequence infectious diseases, radiology, infection control, portable imaging, personal protective equipment, interprofessional collaboration
Tairan, A. M., Rawan Mohammed Abdu Gashoom, Shakr Ahmed Alghamdi, Abdulrahman Abbas Alotaibi, Rania Eid Awad Al-Arika, Bader Faiyadh Alshammari, … Meshael Falah Mohammed. (2024). Development and Implementation of a High-Level Biocontainment Imaging Protocol for Patients with Severe Communicable Diseases: A Narrative Review. Saudi Journal of Medicine and Public Health, 1(2), 2441–2450. https://doi.org/10.64483/202412692
Download Citation
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)
BibTeX
References
  1. Abu Awwad, D., Hill, S., Lewis, S., & Jimenez, Y. (2023). Knowledge, attitudes and practice of infection prevention and control in the CT suite. BMC Health Services Research, 23(1), 741. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-09779-9
  2. Awotunde, J. B., Folorunso, S. O., Jimoh, R. G., Adeniyi, E. A., Abiodun, K. M., & Ajamu, G. J. (2021). Application of artificial intelligence for COVID-19 epidemic: an exploratory study, opportunities, challenges, and future prospects. Artificial intelligence for COVID-19, 47-61. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69744-0_4
  3. Buonsenso, D., & De Rose, C. (2021). Pediatric COVID-19 lung ultrasound. In Image-Guided Management of COVID-19 Lung Disease (pp. 51-67). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66614-9_5
  4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020, June). Interim infection prevention and control recommendations for healthcare personnel during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
  5. Davenport, M. S., Bruno, M. A., Iyer, R. S., Johnson, A. M., Herrera, R., Nicola, G. N., ... & Weinstein, S. (2020). ACR statement on safe resumption of routine radiology care during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Journal of the American College of Radiology, 17(7), 839-844. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacr.2020.05.001
  6. Dos Santos, T., & de Castro, L. F. (2021). Evaluation of a portable Ultraviolet C (UV-C) device for hospital surface decontamination. Photodiagnosis and Photodynamic Therapy, 33, 102161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pdpdt.2020.102161
  7. Fischer II, W. A., Uyeki, T. M., & Tauxe, R. V. (2015). Ebola virus disease: What clinicians in the United States need to know. American journal of infection control, 43(8), 788-793. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2015.05.005
  8. Flinn, J. B., Hynes, N. A., Sauer, L. M., Maragakis, L. L., & Garibaldi, B. T. (2021). The role of dedicated biocontainment patient care units in preparing for COVID-19 and other infectious disease outbreaks. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, 42(2), 208-211. doi:10.1017/ice.2020.451
  9. Fregene, T. E., Nadarajah, P., Buckley, J. F., Bigham, S., & Nangalia, V. (2020). Use of in situ simulation to evaluate the operational readiness of a high‐consequence infectious disease intensive care unit. Anaesthesia, 75(6), 733-738. https://doi.org/10.1111/anae.15048
  10. Gostin, L. O., Ooms, G., Heywood, M., Røttingen, J. A., Haffeld, J., Møgedal, S., ... & Friedman, E. (2010). The joint action and learning initiative on national and global responsibilities for health. Georgetown Public Law Research Paper, (10-70). https://ssrn.com/abstract=1714604
  11. Herstein, J. J., Wolf, T., Nicastri, E., Leo, Y. S., Lim, P. L., Jacobs, M., ... & Lowe, J. J. (2022). Capabilities of global high-level isolation units: a pre-workshop survey. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, 43(11), 1679-1685. doi:10.1017/ice.2021.477
  12. Hick, J. L., Hanfling, D., Wynia, M. K., & Pavia, A. T. (2020). Duty to plan: health care, crisis standards of care, and novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Nam Perspectives, 2020, 10-31478. https://doi.org/10.31478/202003b
  13. Hudson, B. J., Loughborough, W. W., Oliver, H. C., Callow, M. E., Pressdee, D. J., Bond, S. J., ... & Phillips, A. J. (2020). Lasting lessons learnt in the radiology department from the battle with COVID-19. Clinical Radiology, 75(8), 586-591. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crad.2020.06.001
  14. Imanipour, M., Ebadi, A., Monadi Ziarat, H., & Mohammadi, M. M. (2022). The effect of competency‐based education on clinical performance of health care providers: A systematic review and meta‐analysis. International Journal of Nursing Practice, 28(1), e13003. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijn.13003
  15. Kanne, J. P., Little, B. P., Chung, J. H., Elicker, B. M., & Ketai, L. H. (2020). Essentials for radiologists on COVID-19: an update—radiology scientific expert panel. Radiology, 296(2), E113-E114. https://doi.org/10.1148/radiol.2020200527
  16. Lamontagne, F., Fowler, R. A., Adhikari, N. K., Murthy, S., Brett-Major, D. M., Jacobs, M., ... & Guyatt, G. H. (2018). Evidence-based guidelines for supportive care of patients with Ebola virus disease. The Lancet, 391(10121), 700-708. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31795-6
  17. Lowe, A. E., Le, A. B., & Gibbs, S. G. (2022). How Should Biocontainment Balance Infection Control With Practice Sustainability?. AMA Journal of Ethics, 24(10), 944-950. doi: 10.1001/amajethics.2022.944.
  18. Marrs, R., Horsley, T. L., Hackbarth, D., & Landon, E. (2020). High consequence infectious diseases training using interprofessional simulation and TeamSTEPPS. American Journal of Infection Control, 48(6), 615-620. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2019.10.007
  19. Mossa-Basha, M., Meltzer, C. C., Kim, D. C., Tuite, M. J., Kolli, K. P., & Tan, B. S. (2020). Radiology department preparedness for COVID-19: radiology scientific expert review panel. Radiology, 296(2), E106-E112. https://doi.org/10.1148/radiol.2020200988
  20. Mumma, J. M., Durso, F. T., Casanova, L. M., Erukunuakpor, K., Kraft, C. S., Ray, S. M., ... & Jacob, J. T. (2019). Common behaviors and faults when doffing personal protective equipment for patients with serious communicable diseases. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 69(Supplement_3), S214-S220. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciz614
  21. Niu, Y., Xian, J., Lei, Z., Liu, X., & Sun, Q. (2020). Management of infection control and radiological protection in diagnostic radiology examination of COVID-19 cases. Radiation medicine and protection, 1(02), 75-80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radmp.2020.05.005
  22. Popescu, S., & Leach, R. (2019). Identifying gaps in frontline healthcare facility high-consequence infectious disease preparedness. Health security, 17(2), 117-123. https://doi.org/10.1089/hs.2018.0098
  23. Phan, L. T., Maita, D., Mortiz, D. C., Weber, R., Fritzen-Pedicini, C., Bleasdale, S. C., ... & CDC Prevention Epicenters Program. (2019). Personal protective equipment doffing practices of healthcare workers. Journal of occupational and environmental hygiene, 16(8), 575-581. https://doi.org/10.1080/15459624.2019.1628350
  24. Poller, B., Tunbridge, A., Hall, S., Beadsworth, M., Jacobs, M., Peters, E., ... & High Consequence Infectious Diseases Project Working Group. (2018). A unified personal protective equipment ensemble for clinical response to possible high consequence infectious diseases: a consensus document on behalf of the HCID programme. Journal of Infection, 77(6), 496-502. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinf.2018.08.016
  25. Prabhakar, A. M., Glover IV, M., Schaefer, P. W., & Brink, J. A. (2020). Academic radiology departmental operational strategy related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Journal of the American college of radiology, 17(6), 730-733. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacr.2020.04.004
  26. Rehani, B., Rodriguez, J. A., Nguyen, J. K., Patel, M. M., Ammanuel, S. G., Winford, E., & Dillon, W. P. (2022). COVID-19 radiology preparedness, challenges & opportunities: responses from 18 countries. Current problems in diagnostic radiology, 51(2), 196-203. https://doi.org/10.1067/j.cpradiol.2021.03.017
  27. Rojek, A. M., Dutch, M., Camilleri, D., Gardiner, E., Smith, E., Marshall, C., ... & Putland, M. (2020). Early clinical response to a high consequence infectious disease outbreak: insights from COVID‐19. The Medical Journal of Australia, 212(10), 447-450. doi: 10.5694/mja2.50608
  28. Rubin, G. D., Ryerson, C. J., Haramati, L. B., Sverzellati, N., Kanne, J. P., Raoof, S., ... & Leung, A. N. (2020). The role of chest imaging in patient management during the COVID-19 pandemic: a multinational consensus statement from the Fleischner Society. Radiology, 296(1), 172-180. https://doi.org/10.1148/radiol.2020201365
  29. Rutala, W. A., & Weber, D. J. (2021). Disinfection and sterilization in health care facilities: an overview and current issues. Infectious Disease Clinics, 35(3), 575-607. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.idc.2021.04.004
  30. Sánchez, S. M., Shenoy, E. S., & Biddinger, P. D. (2020). The indispensable role of emergency medicine in national preparedness for high consequence infectious diseases (HCIDs). JACEP Open, 1(2), 78-79. https://doi.org/10.1002/emp2.12041
  31. Sander, C., Dercks, N. V., Fehrenbach, M. K., Wende, T., Stehr, S., Winkler, D., ... & Arlt, F. (2021). Neurosurgical care during the COVID-19 pandemic in central germany: A retrospective single center study of the second wave. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(22), 12034. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182212034
  32. Sebba, D., Lastovich, A. G., Kuroda, M., Fallows, E., Johnson, J., Ahouidi, A., ... & Weidemaier, K. (2018). A point-of-care diagnostic for differentiating Ebola from endemic febrile diseases. Science translational medicine, 10(471), eaat0944. https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.aat0944
  33. Shanafelt, T., Ripp, J., & Trockel, M. (2020). Understanding and addressing sources of anxiety among health care professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jama, 323(21). doi:10.1001/jama.2020.5893
  34. Suen, L. K., Guo, Y. P., Tong, D. W., Leung, P. H., Lung, D., Ng, M. S., ... & Yu, W. (2018). Self-contamination during doffing of personal protective equipment by healthcare workers to prevent Ebola transmission. Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control, 7(1), 157. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13756-018-0433-y
  35. Villarosa, A. R., Ramjan, L. M., Maneze, D., & George, A. (2021). Conducting population health research during the COVID-19 pandemic: impacts and recommendations. Sustainability, 13(6), 3320. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063320
  36. Wang, X. (2021). A retrospective on the intellectual adventures of think tanks in biosecurity before and after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Journal of Biosafety and Biosecurity, 3(2), 155-162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobb.2021.10.002
  37. Westerway, S. C., & Basseal, J. M. (2022). Endocavity ultrasound transducers: why high-level disinfection is necessary. Ultraschall in der Medizin-European Journal of Ultrasound, 43(02), 204-208. DOI: 10.1055/a-1168-6602
  38. Whittaker, E., & Sinha, R. (2021). COVID-19: lessons learned from a paediatric high consequence infectious diseases unit. Archives of disease in childhood, 106(4), e20-e20. https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2020-319114
  39. Wong, J., Goh, Q. Y., Tan, Z., Lie, S. A., Tay, Y. C., Ng, S. Y., & Soh, C. R. (2020). Preparing for a COVID-19 pandemic: a review of operating room outbreak response measures in a large tertiary hospital in Singapore. Canadian Journal of Anesthesia/Journal canadien d'anesthésie, 67(6), 732-745. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12630-020-01620-9
  40. Yassi, A., Zungu, M., Spiegel, J. M., Kistnasamy, B., Lockhart, K., Jones, D., ... & Darwin, L. (2016). Protecting health workers from infectious disease transmission: an exploration of a Canadian-South African partnership of partnerships. Globalization and health, 12(1), 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-016-0145-0
  41. Yeh, K. B., Adams, M., Stamper, P. D., Dasgupta, D., Hewson, R., Buck, C. D., ... & Hay, J. (2016). National laboratory planning: developing sustainable biocontainment laboratories in limited resource areas. Health security, 14(5), 323-330. https://doi.org/10.1089/hs.2015.0079
Read More
Author biographies is not available.
Download
PDF
Statistic
Read Counter : 41 Download : 98