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Note the #'s for the 6500 nurses queried for what training, protection and plans were in place at their respective hospitals. The STATS are not good!
Nurses Battling Coronavirus Beg for Protective Gear and Better Planning
Health care workers are among the most at risk of contracting the virus, but many say they lack protective gear and protocols to keep themselves and their patients safe.
Robin Addison, a nurse at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Wash., demonstrated how she wears a respirator helmet with a face shield. It is similar to the one she used when she helped treat a man, currently in isolation at the hospital.Credit...Ted S. Warren/Associated Press
By Farah Stockman and Mike Baker
In the fight against the coronavirus, nurses play a critical role, but some on the front lines in the hardest-hit areas in the United States say they fear that their health is not being made a priority.
Nurses in Washington State and California said they have had to beg for N95 masks, which are thicker than surgical masks and block out much smaller particles, and have faced ridicule from colleagues when expressing concerns about catching the highly contagious virus. Some have complained about being pulled out of quarantine early to treat patients because of staff shortages.
“If nurses aren’t safe, then really our community isn’t safe,” said Jenny Managhebi, a clinical nurse at the University of California, Davis, Medical Center, where 24 nurses were asked to self-quarantine after a patient tested positive for the virus. “If I’m not safe at the bedside, when I come home to my husband and my children, then they’re not safe.”
Concerns from nurses in Washington State and California echo those of nurses nationwide. National Nurses United, a union that represents about 150,000 nurses across the country, announced on Thursday the sobering results of an online survey it recently conducted.
Of the 6,500 nurses who participated, 29 percent said their hospitals had a plan in place to isolate potential coronavirus patients, and 44 percent said they had received guidance from their employers about how to handle the virus.
Sixty-three percent had access to N95 face masks, and a quarter of the respondents had access to an even more protective mask recommended by the union, known as a PAPR, or a powered air purifying respirator.
One California nurse, who is in a 14-day self-quarantine after caring for a coronavirus patient, complained that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was not testing her for the virus quickly enough. “This is not the ticket dispenser at the deli counter; it’s a public health emergency!” she wrote in a statement shared by National Nurses United.
At a news conference on Thursday afternoon, the union demanded, among other things, that the federal government ensure all health care workers receive the highest levels of protective equipment, that any vaccine that is developed be offered to the public for free, and that Congress immediately pass an emergency spending package in response to the virus.
“The C.D.C. has been behind the ball at almost every step of the way,” said Jane Thomason, a union official who focuses on workplace health and safety.
Medical professionals have died in Wuhan, China, where the new coronavirus first surfaced late last year.
Health care workers are among the groups most at risk of contracting the virus, as sick people report to emergency rooms and are treated before their condition is known. At least eight people who work in U.S. health care facilities have received a coronavirus diagnosis, including three employees of a hospital in Vacaville, Calif., and five people who worked at the Life Care long-term care facility in Kirkland, Wash.
And health care workers who are exposed to it can also unwittingly transmit the virus.
At EvergreenHealth, a hospital in Kirkland where at least 11 deaths have occurred, nurses who were told to self-quarantine were later asked to return to work, according to the Washington State Nurses Association, raising fears that they could further spread the virus if they had contracted it.
The association, which represents more than 16,000 registered nurses in the state, surveyed its members and reported that 40 percent of the Evergreen nurses who responded said they lacked access to adequate protective equipment. More than half said they did not feel prepared to provide care for a patient with a known or suspected case of the virus, which causes a disease known as Covid-19.
The union said nurses at other hospitals around the state have also reported concerns about lack of equipment. “Some have expressed concern that they themselves or colleagues have been in close contact with Covid-19 patients and yet are being told to continue working,” the union said.
Mary Shepler, the chief nursing officer at EvergreenHealth, which includes the hospital in Kirkland, defended the facility’s preparedness and protocols. The hospital, she said, has adequate supplies, including single-use masks and face shields that are sterilized and reused....
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/us/coronavirus-nurses.html
Nurses Battling Coronavirus Beg for Protective Gear and Better Planning
Health care workers are among the most at risk of contracting the virus, but many say they lack protective gear and protocols to keep themselves and their patients safe.
Robin Addison, a nurse at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Wash., demonstrated how she wears a respirator helmet with a face shield. It is similar to the one she used when she helped treat a man, currently in isolation at the hospital.Credit...Ted S. Warren/Associated Press
By Farah Stockman and Mike Baker
- March 6, 2020
In the fight against the coronavirus, nurses play a critical role, but some on the front lines in the hardest-hit areas in the United States say they fear that their health is not being made a priority.
Nurses in Washington State and California said they have had to beg for N95 masks, which are thicker than surgical masks and block out much smaller particles, and have faced ridicule from colleagues when expressing concerns about catching the highly contagious virus. Some have complained about being pulled out of quarantine early to treat patients because of staff shortages.
“If nurses aren’t safe, then really our community isn’t safe,” said Jenny Managhebi, a clinical nurse at the University of California, Davis, Medical Center, where 24 nurses were asked to self-quarantine after a patient tested positive for the virus. “If I’m not safe at the bedside, when I come home to my husband and my children, then they’re not safe.”
Concerns from nurses in Washington State and California echo those of nurses nationwide. National Nurses United, a union that represents about 150,000 nurses across the country, announced on Thursday the sobering results of an online survey it recently conducted.
Of the 6,500 nurses who participated, 29 percent said their hospitals had a plan in place to isolate potential coronavirus patients, and 44 percent said they had received guidance from their employers about how to handle the virus.
One California nurse, who is in a 14-day self-quarantine after caring for a coronavirus patient, complained that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was not testing her for the virus quickly enough. “This is not the ticket dispenser at the deli counter; it’s a public health emergency!” she wrote in a statement shared by National Nurses United.
At a news conference on Thursday afternoon, the union demanded, among other things, that the federal government ensure all health care workers receive the highest levels of protective equipment, that any vaccine that is developed be offered to the public for free, and that Congress immediately pass an emergency spending package in response to the virus.
“The C.D.C. has been behind the ball at almost every step of the way,” said Jane Thomason, a union official who focuses on workplace health and safety.
Medical professionals have died in Wuhan, China, where the new coronavirus first surfaced late last year.
Health care workers are among the groups most at risk of contracting the virus, as sick people report to emergency rooms and are treated before their condition is known. At least eight people who work in U.S. health care facilities have received a coronavirus diagnosis, including three employees of a hospital in Vacaville, Calif., and five people who worked at the Life Care long-term care facility in Kirkland, Wash.
And health care workers who are exposed to it can also unwittingly transmit the virus.
At EvergreenHealth, a hospital in Kirkland where at least 11 deaths have occurred, nurses who were told to self-quarantine were later asked to return to work, according to the Washington State Nurses Association, raising fears that they could further spread the virus if they had contracted it.
The association, which represents more than 16,000 registered nurses in the state, surveyed its members and reported that 40 percent of the Evergreen nurses who responded said they lacked access to adequate protective equipment. More than half said they did not feel prepared to provide care for a patient with a known or suspected case of the virus, which causes a disease known as Covid-19.
The union said nurses at other hospitals around the state have also reported concerns about lack of equipment. “Some have expressed concern that they themselves or colleagues have been in close contact with Covid-19 patients and yet are being told to continue working,” the union said.
Mary Shepler, the chief nursing officer at EvergreenHealth, which includes the hospital in Kirkland, defended the facility’s preparedness and protocols. The hospital, she said, has adequate supplies, including single-use masks and face shields that are sterilized and reused....
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/us/coronavirus-nurses.html
