The powerful California Nurses Association has put Ebola on the bargaining table in its negotiations for a new contract with Kaiser Permanente. Contract talks have been going on for months and the nurses' most recent demands are all about Ebola — better training, more staffing, protective gear that goes beyond what's recommended by federal officials and even a special life insurance policy. "We'd like to have an extra supplemental coverage, for specifically Ebola, if we were to contract Ebola while we're at work," says Diane McClure, a nurse at Kaiser Permanente's hospital in Sacramento, where a patient suspected of having Ebola was treated in August. He later tested negative for the virus.
A Dallas nurse who cared for a co-worker who contracted the Ebola virus at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital said the facility was unprepared to fight the disease and she would "do anything" to avoid being treated there if she were ever to fall ill with the potentially deadly virus. "I can no longer defend my hospital," Briana Aguirre said Thursday on NBC's "Today" show. Aguirre claims that before Thomas Eric Duncan arrived at Texas Health Presbyterian nursing staff had not been trained in how to treat an Ebola patient beyond being offered an "optional seminar."
The nation's largest nurses union is calling on President Obama to impose strict national standards to protect healthcare workers from the deadly Ebola virus, pointing to a lack of safety protocols. The appeal Wednesday for swift executive action comes as the second Ebola diagnosis of a U.S. healthcare worker stokes fresh fears among employee advocates and raises questions about the scope of the federal government's response to the crisis. "This month has been a nightmare for the nurses across the nation," National Nurses United (NNU) Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro said. "They're looking for answers."
Health officials scrambled to learn how a Dallas health care worker caught Ebola at a Texas hospital where she had cared for a man who died from the deadly virus. The woman was identified Monday as nurse Nina Pham, her family confirmed. Pham, 26, became infected while treating Thomas Eric Duncan, the first Ebola patient to die in the USA. Pham, who graduated from Texas Christian University's nursing program in 2010, is the first person known to contract the disease in the USA.
The kudos for emergency room nurses kept pouring in last week as hospitals across Hudson County joined in celebrating National Emergency Room Nurse Appreciation Week. "An emergency nurse has to be every kind of nurse," said Kim Palestis, nurse manager of the ER at Jersey City Medical Center-Barnabas Health. "They have to know how to take care of surgical patients, patients that need to go to the operating room, patients who are dying, ICU patients, pediatric patients. Instead of having one specialty, you need to be a jack of all trades." ER nurses are always on alert, whether it be for a disease or a violent patient.
They're often the first people you see at the doctor's office, and the first line of defense in any ER – but America's nursing population is shrinking fast. The nursing shortage may not be caused just by lack of interest. In many ways, it's caused by lack of capacity. Each year, 80,000 applicants are turned away from nursing schools, often because there aren't enough teachers or resources to accommodate growing student interest. "Suddenly, we turned around and realized we're not attracting enough nurses to go into teaching," said Dr. Kimberly S. Glassman, with patient care services and the chief nursing officer at NYU Langone Medical Center.