When Caregivers Become Patients: Frontline Vulnerability in the Bundibugyo Outbreak Response

During the Ebola outbreak in 2014, there was an international response to support the clinical care of patients in Africa. Domestically, as infection preventionists (IPs), we were trained on how to safely don and doff PPE, how to transport and dispose of biohazardous materials, and which equipment we could use should a suspected Ebola patient walk into our facility. We were equally concerned about our ability to care for a possible patient and how to keep our clinical staff safe. We followed the challenges the front-line health care workers were navigating and used their lessons learned to support our planning efforts at home.