# 3670
For anyone who has never worked in, or around a hospital, there is one truism they should know.
Doctors and administrators don’t run hospitals.
Nurses do.
They may not control the purse strings, and may not set policy, but they do provide more than 90% of the patient care in hospitals. While doctors get the glory (and the money), nurses are the glue that hold the medical world together.
Don’t believe me? Try running a hospital sometime without them. See how far you get.
The outrage (and I’ll be writing more about outrage in the future) being expressed by nurses right now is important, and hospital administrators and policy makers ignore it at their own peril.
Simply put, many HCWs (Health Care Workers) fear that their safety, and the safety of their patients, will be compromised during this pandemic. They point to deficiencies in preparation by their workplaces and recent moves to certify surgical masks as `good enough’ personal protection for caregivers.
Memories of the 2003 SARS outbreak, where some nurses died, remain fresh and vivid. Some hospitals stood accused of failing to protect their employees with proper PPEs (Personal Protective Equipment) during that outbreak, and some nurses fear a repeat of that tragedy.
A few of the recent blogs I’ve done on this subject include:
Today the CalNurses/NNOC organizations have issued a press release on the findings of a recent poll they conducted on hospital readiness for a pandemic.
Many Hospitals Are Not Ready for H1N1: Nurse Survey Shows Deficiencies in Hospital Swine Flu Readiness
Data from 190 Healthcare Facilities in Nine States from California to Maine
OAKLAND, Calif., Aug. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- A patient health and safety survey of 190 American hospitals from coast to coast compiled by registered nurses in eight different states finds that a disturbing number of our nation's healthcare facilities are not prepared for the coming H1N1/swine flu pandemic, according to results released today by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.
The data reflects a survey conducted over the past four weeks by RNs in hospitals in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
What the RNs reported are wide gaps in safety gear, infection control training, and post-exposure procedures. Among key findings:
- At more than one-fourth of the hospitals, nurses cite inadequate isolation of swine flu patients, increasing the risk of infection to others.
- Nurses at 15 percent of hospitals do not have access to the proper respirator masks, exposing nurses and patients to infection; at up to 40 percent of the hospitals, nurses are expected to re-use masks, in violation of Centers for Disease Control Guidelines.
- At 18 percent of the hospitals, RNs report that nurses have become infected; one Sacramento, Calif. RN has already died.
CNA/NNOC is calling on all hospitals to adhere to the highest standard of protection for patients and nurses to combat the expected onslaught of new cases this fall and winter, and urging legislators to strengthen public protections.
"These continuing problems increase the risk that many hospitals will become vectors for infection, with inadequate patient protections leading to a spread of the pandemic among other patients, their friends, family, and caregivers, and the surrounding community," warned Deborah Burger, RN, CNA/NNOC co-president. "What we're hearing from around the country is dangerous to patient health and safety, but with smart and clinically appropriate leadership we can fix policies in time for the upcoming pandemic."
Among other findings:
- At 19 percent of the hospitals all or some appropriate N95 respirator masks were not "fitted" to ensure their effectiveness against the virus.
- More than one in five, 22 percent of the facilities, do not have enough masks, say nurses.
- Nurses at fewer than half of facilities report that they have been adequately trained on H1N1 issues, including identification of infected patients, and procedures for caring for these patients.
To help combat these problems, CNA/NNOC called for:
- Minimize infection of hospital patients and workers by strict adherence to the highest standard of infection control procedures, including identification and isolation with appropriate ventilation of infected patients.
- All hospital workers and visitors must be provided with appropriate protection gear at the highest government standards, including N95 respirator masks or better for all who enter the isolation room of a confirmed or suspected H1N1 patient.
- Any RN who is unable to work due to contracting a communicable or infectious disease identified or treated in his or her hospital/clinic shall be guaranteed sick leave, not face disciplinary action, and shall be presumptively eligible for workers' compensation.
- Implement a moratorium on any closures of emergency rooms, layoffs of direct healthcare personnel, and reductions of hospital beds.
- Federal guidelines for protection must be developed that are consistent across agencies.
- Disposable respirator masks must not be re-used. In the event of a demonstrated national mask shortage, facilities should adhere to government recommendations on mask conservation.
For more details, see www.CalNurses.org.
CNA/NNOC is the largest and fastest-growing organization of RNs in the U.S. with 85,000 members in all 50 state
