Case study: ED acts quickly after anthrax.

After last year's anthrax attacks, EDs at Capital Health System in Trenton, NJ, had to address decontamination of large numbers of patients. Patients who didn't require decontamination were sent to the hospital's employee health facility so they could bypass the ED. Clinicians, nursing staff, educators, and paramedics were trained in the decontamination process. Direct communication with first responders was established with a portable scanner.