The University of Nebraska Medical Center designed its 20-bed quarantine unit to feel nothing like a hospital. Tension arose between that design intent and the reality of quarantine, when a patient there with hantavirus exposure tried to leave for Florida this spring.
Angela Hewlett, MD, medical director of the Omaha-based Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, described the facility’s patient experience philosophy in an American Hospital Association podcast released June 24.
Every room includes a refrigerator, television with streaming platforms and exercise equipment. Patients have access to in-person and virtual behavioral support, Dr. Hewlett said. Staff also host a daily town hall where quarantined patients can raise concerns, such as testing plans or food needs.
Dr. Hewlett said the facility is designed “more like a hotel” than a patient care facility. A gap surfaced between these amenities and a 42-day, federally mandated quarantine order. Angela Perryman was quarantined after exposure to Andes hantavirus aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship, and despite her requests to self-isolate in Florida, health officials ordered Ms. Perryman to stay at UNMC until the quarantine ended June 22.
The federally funded quarantine unit — the only one of its kind in the United States — is co-located with UNMC’s full biocontainment unit, which can provide critical care including mechanical ventilation, dialysis and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation if a quarantined patient becomes symptomatic.
