UC Medical Centers Declared Priority Hospitals For Ebola Care
Source: CBS San Francisco
Five University of California medical centers, including one at University of California at San Francisco, are now considered priority hospitals to treat confirmed Ebola cases in California, the UC Office of the President announced Friday.
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The California Nurses Association (CNA) and National Nurses United (NNU), which represents about 12,000 registered nurses in the major UC medical centers, however, said in a statement released Friday that the UC and California Hospital Association officials are “giving the public a false picture about Ebola readiness in the UC hospitals.”
CNA/NNU executive director Rosa Ann DeMoro said that based on what the UC nurses reported as recently as Friday, the nurses “are unprepared, unprotected and very concerned.”
DeMoro said that over the last two months CNA/NNU has informed the UC officials about standards that nurses say they require to be protected in the event that they need to treat an Ebola patient.
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Read more: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/10/25/uc-medical-centers-priority-hospitals-ebola-care/
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On behalf of registered nurses and other healthcare workers across the United States, we understand that the only way to adequately confront the 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 healthcare workers, and the public. Every healthcare 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 healthcare workers to the virus represent a clear and present danger to public health. We know that without these mandates to healthcare facilities, we are putting registered nurses, physicians and other healthcare 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 healthcare worker should be put at risk due to a lack of healthcare 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 healthcare workers.