Abdeali Saherwala | Staff Writer
Featured image: Dr. Hoffman contributed to the international guidelines for Ebola management. | Courtesy of YFile
Recently, international guidelines have been created for managing and controlling the Ebola virus.
The process included 30 experts, one of whom is Dr. Steven J. Hoffman, a professor with the Faculty of Health and Osgoode Hall Law School who is also the current scientific director of the Institute of Population and Public Health, which is part of the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR).
“These are the first clinical guidelines for the management of the Ebola virus disease,” Hoffman says.
“This is the first time that a full body of evidence was brought to bear on how we as professionals should be treating Ebola.”
Hoffman’s role was to elucidate “legal, regulatory, and ethical perspectives” on the management of those infected by the Ebola virus.
“A majority of the panel members were physicians. I was the only lawyer on the panel, and the thinking was that these guidelines were not just acted upon in controlled settings but rather in complex social contexts, the impact of the guidelines would be greater if they are able to incorporate broader ethical, legal, and social perspectives.”
As a global health lawyer, Hoffman applies his legal background to the political and ethical issues faced by clinicians responding to Ebola.
“My hope was only to help inform the development of the best guidelines possible, to synthesize the best available research evidence and providing practical guidance to health professionals on what they should do during an Ebola outbreak,” Hoffman adds.
Most of the CIHR-funded multi-year project’s work was performed by a team of health professionals, to synthesize the best available research through specific guidelines such as hydrating patients, containing site-specific infections, and preventing cross-contamination.
Hoffman is a co-author of Evidence-based guidelines for supportive care of patients with Ebola virus, an article published in the medical journal The Lancet.
In it, he recommends several protocols on caring for patients with Ebola, including administration of hydration, monitoring of vital signs, biochemical testing, adequate staffing ratios, and access to analgesics for pain relief.
The creation of the guidelines for Ebola management were initiated due to the 2014 West Africa outbreak.
“The Ebola outbreaks in West Africa really showed us how unprepared the world was for that kind of an outbreak,” Hoffman clarifies. “Including health professionals, who did not initially know how to best provide supportive care to patients with Ebola.”
Hoffman goes on to state, because there were no clear guidelines on providing support to these patients, healthcare professionals provided different care for different patients.
Ebola does not have a cure, meaning that Ebola-infected individuals can only be supported through the treatment of Ebola-related symptoms. The proper treatment of Ebola-related symptoms can decrease mortality and allow the body to fight off the virus naturally.
“Ebola affects bodily functions in a terrible way,” adds Hoffman.
Hoffman clarifies that the guidelines are about when Ebola happens, and are intended to aid healthcare professionals regarding how to support patients with these symptoms occurring in the body due to the virus, in the hope that it can reduce mortality.
