During a national conference call organized by National Nurses United Wednesday, nurses from across the country reported shocking details on how little their hospitals are prepared when it comes to the Ebola virus.
Many health care workers are concerned about Ebola, given events that have unfolded in the last month. Even a health worker wearing full personal protective equipment developed Ebola by treating an infected patient at a Dallas, Texas hospital.
“The call comes as at least one nurse continues to be isolated in a Dallas hospital after having tested positive for the deadly Ebola virus, and reports of other patients being tested with Ebola-like symptoms,” said a nurses union press release.
The press release continued, “National Nurses United called for all hospitals to have in place the highest standard of optimal protections, including Hazmat suits, and hands-on training to protect all RNs, other hospital personnel to confront Ebola.”
However, many of the 4,000 registered nurses who signed up for the call reported that even basic protections like Hazmat suits, gloves and proper training are not available to them.
“Unfortunately, most hospitals are not prepared here,” a nurse from New York City called in to say. “We’re using generic gear.”
The nurse from New York also explained that “expectations are not clear when it comes to protocol” and that “some nurses are expected to clean up” after an infected patient before continuing on caring for other patients.
A nurse from Providence Hospital in Washington, D.C. stated that they are also stuck without proper gear or training,
“We don’t have Hazmat suits,” the nurse went on to say, “and were told they couldn’t afford goggles. We need help.”
“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” one nurse from California declared. “We have protocols in place.”
“The hospital I work with had no training on Ebola,” the Florida nurse explained. She said one colleague even got in trouble for calling into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ask for information and training on how to handle patients infected with Ebola.
A spokesperson for the CDC told The Daily Caller News Foundation, “We don’t comment on what other people are saying or reporting.”
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