The first steps to take on Ebola
A second nurse, Amber Vinson, had contracted Ebola after treating infected patient Thomas Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. Yet she and the other infected nurse, Nina Pham, have gotten the blame--some political leaders, including officials at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), claim the problem started with these nurses not following proper "protocols" for safety.
As (NNU) point out in a statement and petition, health care workers have received little to no preparation for treating Ebola patients, and many hospitals still lack the proper safety equipment for treatment. In its surveys of nurses, NNU found that many hospitals lack sufficient supplies of protective equipment, and a majority failed to communicate any policy about the admission of patients infected by Ebola.
"I think a lot of nurses are mad at the CDC," NNU Executive Director Roseann DeMoro told a nationwide conference call of nurses last week. "But this goes much further than the CDC. This is a bipartisan lack of political will, and now those roosters are coming home to roost."
Barack Obama has now appointed an "Ebola czar"--Ron Klain, former chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden and currently the general counsel of an investment group--to oversee the U.S. government's response to Ebola. Yet Klain has zero experience in health care.
In the petition published below, the NNU calls on anyone concerned with justice and public health to demand immediate executive action from Obama "to mandate uniform, national standards and protocols that all hospitals must follow to safely protect patients, all health care workers, and the public. Not one more patient, nurse or health care worker should be put at risk due to a lack of health care facility preparedness."
ON BEHALF of registered nurses and other health care workers across the United States, we understand that the only way to adequately confront Ebola crisis, that the World Health Organization has termed the most significant health crisis in modern history, is for the president to invoke his executive authority to mandate uniform, national standards and protocols that all hospitals must follow to safely protect patients, registered nurses, other front-line health care workers, and the public. Every health care employer must be directed to follow the Precautionary Principle and institute optimal protocols and personal protective equipment for Ebola that meets the highest standards used by Nebraska Medical Center, or a higher standard, including:
Full-body hazmat suits that meet the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) F1670 standard for blood penetration, the ASTM F1671 standard for viral penetration which leaves no skin exposed or unprotected.
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health-approved powered air purifying respirators with an assigned protection factor of at least 50--or a higher standard as appropriate.
At least two direct-care registered nurses caring for each Ebola patient with additional RNs assigned as needed (based on the direct care RN's professional judgment), with no additional patient care assignments.
Continuous interactive training with the RNs who are exposed to patients, continuous updated training and education for all RNs that is responsive to the changing nature of disease, and continuous interactive training and expertise from facilities where state-of-the-art disease containment is occurring.
If the employer has a program with standards that exceed those used by Nebraska Medical Center, the higher standard shall be used. The Ebola pandemic and the exposure of health care workers to the virus represent a clear and present danger to public health. We know that without these mandates to health care facilities, we are putting registered nurses, physicians and other health care workers at extreme risk. They are our first line of defense. We would not send soldiers to the battlefield without armor and weapons.
In conclusion, not one more patient, nurse, or health care worker should be put at risk due to a lack of health care facility preparedness. The United States should be setting the example on how to contain and eradicate the Ebola virus. Nothing short of President Obama's mandate, that optimal safety standards apply, will be acceptable to the nurses of this nation. We demand protection for all health care workers.
