Dive Brief:
- A new survey of registered nurses by the National Nurses United union concludes that most believe hospitals aren't ready to handle Ebola patients. The survey included 700 registered nurses at more than 250 hospitals in 31 states.
- Eighty percent of nurse respondents said that their hospitals haven't provided them with a policy regarding possible admissions of patients infected by Ebola. And 87% reported that their hospitals haven't educated them on Ebola.
- The nurses also said that isolation and protective precautions aren't adequate. One-third told researchers that their hospitals don't have sufficient eye protection and fluid resistant/impermeable gowns. And almost 40% of nurses reported that their hospitals don't have plans to equip isolation rooms with plastic covered mattresses and pillows and to discard all linens after use.
Dive Insight:
In response to the survey results, National Nurses United is asking all U.S. hospitals to roll out a full emergency preparedness plan for Ebola and other infectious diseases. NNU argues that in addition to adequate staffing, the preparedness plans should include training of hospital workers on appropriate protocols for responding to outbreaks and sufficient supplies of personal protective equipment.
Leaders with the NNU also point out that, given the possible role of an EMR flaw in the Dallas-area misdiagnosis of an Ebola patient, hospitals must not to rely too heavily on automated protocols for interacting with patients. While the Dallas hospital has denied that its EMR had a role in crisis, it's still possible that issues with EMRs at other hospitals could cause problems with screening and identifying such patients.
The nurses may be see some of their demands granted. On Monday, the CDC announced that it would like every state to have dedicated Ebola hospitals and that the agency is in the process of ramping up training for health workers who might come across infected patients.