Healthcare workers across the nation are ill-equipped to handle patients with the Ebola virus, according to reports from workers affiliated with the National Nurses United nurses union. Not only do many US nurses lack proper protective gear — like sealed gloves, masks, and protective goggles — healthcare workers are not being trained to use these materials in a way that would prevent transmission of the virus, union workers say.
"This situation has been a nightmare," National Nurses United executive director RoseAnn DeMoro told reporters on Wednesday. "We've been told a lot of things wrong. We've been lied to. And we know this because the nurses have told us this."
The attention is currently on Dallas, where critical errors at the hospital where the first patient in the US was found to have Ebola may have contributed to the infection of two healthcare workers with the virus. One of them boarded an airplane shortly before showing symptoms.
But what happened in Texas could happen anywhere, nurses say.
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DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
3 comments:
No matter.It's unstoppable anyway.Educate yourselves all you want if it makes you feel better.No amount of precaution can stop the spread because Ebola was designed that way.Inevitable spread and mass deaths.Designer viruses will be the norm in the coming years.
I guarantee you PRMC is NOT as prepared as they ALLUDE TO! Ask to see the documentation of training on use of PPE
then ask to see ALL of the protocals/procedures and check the dates and noted changes on the BOTTOM of the procedure page. JCAHO required they be reviewed and dated and changes noted and dated. Ask WHY no one is suggesting an "outdoor emergency room screening"? All first responders and local hospitals conduct emergency disaster drills every 6 months to a year! A climate controlled tent should have an "entry" door for emergency room patients, after screening and found to not have ebola signs then proceed into the ER, those with potential signs should then enter AN APPROPRIATE area for further screening
After 911 first responders from every state sent representatives to Mount Weather in Va for a week long training for all types of emergencies under a system called HEICS that operated with a Central Incident Command Center The primary benefit was that it demonstrated how one community's emergency teams could easily join with another state and be able to join forces rapidly, it provided consistency in a time of chaos. The screening area described above was implemented in the drill.The training included ALL types of emergencys occuring simultaneously! I have faith in the Wicomico Health Dept, the response from the City and County Hazmat teams but however many reservations about PRMC being prepared to manage Ebola! Citizens need to educate themselves in order to protect themselves and their families. Thanks for this forum Mr Albero I hope medical personnel and first responders participate in this forum to ensure PRMC "mans up" The ONLY reason the changes nationally are occuring is BECAUSE the nurses UNION SPOKE UP! PRMC staff have tried for years to get a union and those staff were suddenly threatened with losing their jobs! A LOUD VOICE should be raised as it was by the Texas UNION FOR THE PRIMARY PURPOSE of FORCING our acute center to ENSURE THEY ARE PREPARED!
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