Nurses Push Back Equipment Shortage During COVID-19 Pandemic

The nurse Mike Garrick took great care not to bring in Coronavirus Home of his wife and 2-year-old daughter. After work, I dropped in at the hotel and took a shower. He was washing his clothes with Lysol’s disinfectant. They did a tremendous amount of hand washing.

But at Providence St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, Gulick and his colleagues first N95 mask It was dangerous. The N95 mask removes 95% of all airborne particles, including those that are too small to block with a regular mask. But the hospital manager didn’t provide them and didn’t provide them, he said.

Later last week, COVID-19 occurred because a nurse in the Gulick ward tested positive for coronavirus. The next day, a ward patrol doctor asked the nurse why he wasn’t wearing an N95 mask and said he needed more protection.

That was all for Gulick. He and a handful of nurses told the manager he would not enter the COVID-19 room without the N95 mask.

“I worked with nursing with a passion to help the most vulnerable and unable to speak for themselves, but to defend those who are not in their current situation.” Gulick said.

The hospital has suspended him and nine colleagues, according to the hospital’s national nurses. According to the union, 10 nurses are now paid, but they cannot return to work while the HR department is conducting an investigation.

They say that they are one of the hundreds of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals across the country and are required to work without proper protection. Some have participated in protests or filed formal claims. Others buy and make their own supplies.

One nurse was dismissed after refusing to remove his N95 mask and sterile gloves, and instead, instead of taking care of a known COVID-19 patient, had a “thin tissue wipe” surgical routine on duty. I wore a mask.

Dawn Kulach was dismissed on April 10 by a Virtua Health hospital in Voorhees, NJ, shortly after returning from work and recovering from viral-induced pneumonia. In an interview, Kulach said it was dangerous to work without an N95 mask, as the virus circulates in the hospital airways and there is no way to know which patient has the virus. She also insisted on wearing sterile gloves to use computers and other shared items at the nurses station.

In a statement, Dr. Reginald Blaber, Virtua’s chief clinical officer, said the hospital is now at high risk for caring for patients infected with the virus, waiting for test results, and ICU and ER. He said he provided N95 masks to local staff. Staff in other areas will receive one surgical mask daily.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention do not require N95 masks for COVID-19 caregivers, but many hospitals choose additional protection due to infectious diseases. Very contagious. The CDC said Wednesday that at least 9,200 health workers were infected.

Most often, coronaviruses cause mild or moderate symptoms such as fever and cough, which resolve in a few weeks. For some people, especially older people and those with existing health problems, it can cause more serious illnesses and deaths such as pneumonia.

St. John said he was providing N95 masks to all nurses caring for COVID-19 patients and nurses awaiting test results as of Tuesday. The statement said the hospital was increasing its supply and sanitizing masks daily.

“It’s no secret that there is a national shortage,” the statement said. The hospital did not comment on the interrupted nurse.

Angela Gadura, a St. John nurse who fell ill at COVID-19, said she asked her hospital manager why the doctor was wearing N95, but not the nurse. She says they told her that a CDC would be enough with a surgical mask to keep her safe.

Later, she suffered from a dry cough, severe body aches, and joint aches.

“I was really scared when I received the phone call that I was positive,” she said.

She is recovering and will return to work next week.

“The next nurse receiving this may not be lucky. They may need hospitalization. They may die,” she said.

In the United States, most of the US suffered a serious shortage of medicines containing N95, which contained N95, as the number of COVID-19 cases surged in March. In response, CDC has lowered the standards of protective clothing for healthcare workers, Use bandanas when they run out of masks.

Some resentful health workers complain to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

“I fear retaliation for being a whistle-blower, please remain anonymous,” said a health worker in Tennessee. Healthcare professionals in Tennessee have complained that wearing a mask of their own is not allowed unless they are directly treating COVID-19 patients.

In Oregon, a complaint filed on March 26 warned that no masks were being provided to nurses treating patients suspected of having COVID-19. Another Oregon complaint that claimed the nurse was “wearing a mask is said to lead to disciplinary action.”

Some take me to the street.

On Wednesday, a nurse union in New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois, California, and Pennsylvania planned action in the hospital and posted it on social media using the hashtag PPEoverProfit. PPE, or personal protective equipment, refers to items such as masks and gowns.

Nurses at the Fresno Medical Center in Kaiser Permanente, California, demanded more protective equipment during protests during a shift on Tuesday. Hospitals, like many US hospitals, require nurses to use one N95 mask per day, raising concerns about patient-to-patient transmission.

Kaiser said 10 nurses at the facility had tested positive. The protest organizer said three were hospitalized and one was receiving emergency care.

Kaiser Senior Vice President Wade Noji denied the union’s allegations that nurses were unnecessarily exposed.

“Kaiser Permanente has many years of management of highly infectious diseases, safely treating patients infected with this virus and protecting other patients, members and employees,” Nozzy said. It was

Prior to the pandemic, following the infection-control protocols they currently use would be grounds for disciplinary action, said Amy Arland, an institutional emergency nurse.

“And now it’s like throwing all those standards out the window as if they didn’t exist,” Arland said. “It is beyond me.”

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AP Medical Writer Linda A. Johnson contributed to this report from Trenton, NJ.

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