Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/1380020
16 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G A P R I L | M AY | J U N E 2 0 2 1 from infectious diseases, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not updated its guidance to reflect the aerosol transmis sibility of Covid. To counteract behaviors learned under crisis standards of care, various divisions within NNU have launched campaigns to encour- age nurses to do what they know science and proper infection control protocol dictates: use a new N95 respirator or other single- use PPE with every patient encounter. Kaiser Permanente, Sutter Health, HCA, the University of California, and Cook County Health, the public health system of the Chicago area, are just some of the hospital chains where nurses have done so. In California, the California Nurses Association also sponsored and passed legislation last year requiring hospitals to stock a 90-day supply of new, unexpired PPE for nurses and other health care workers, and is now pursuing a bill to require even more comprehensive measures. "Optimal PPE is important not only for nurses, but it's important for patient safety," said Burger, who pointed out that Covid is not the first and won't be the last infectious agent with which we must contend. "It's important because there's also bacteria in the hospital that is super bacteria and that can be spread to the community. This is a public safety issue as well as the protection of nurses and other health care workers." Lisa Ceynowa, an RN in the medical-neuro unit at Enloe Medical Center in Chico, Calif. also raised the fact that hospitals may need to have plenty of N95s on hand for more than just medical use. "Wildfires are also a regular occurrence in our area, and we need to be prepared with enough N95s on hand for staff," said Ceynowa. "Keeping three months' of PPE on hand and following rigorous scientific protocols for safety should be in our contract." Burger said the collective action of nurses is important as the union provides protections to speak out for the right to protect patients and fellow health care workers. "It's important for nurses to speak out because some of our col- leagues are not as well protected or they're easily swayed by management to ignore protocols," Burger said. "It's mandatory that nurses speak out and educate our coworkers because managers may be trying to intimidate them." T o educate colleagues and protest poor infection control policies governing single-use PPE, among other pandemic issues, NNU members have staged thousands of actions since the start of the pandemic, including car caravans, press conferences, vigils, and other protests. At many NNU workplaces, the nurses' collective pushback has worked. At the Veterans Health Administration, NNU VA members' calls to federal lawmakers and other collective actions helped pressure the hospital system to return to single-use PPE compliance for its health care workers. On May 10, the Department of Veterans Affairs issued a memorandum specifying a "return to conventional capacity use of N95 respirators." The system's return to single-use PPE prac- tices is a long-overdue relief for nurses like Rhonda Risner, who works at the Dayton VA Medical Center in Ohio. Risner described the months prior as chaotic for VA health care