National Nurses United

S E P T E M B E R | O C T O B E R 2 0 1 4 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 N A T I O N A L N U R S E 11 S taring at what the World Health Organization has termed the "most severe acute health emergency in modern times," there is ample reason why National Nurses United has made the precautionary principle our guidepost for protecting nurses, other front- line health workers, and patients in the face of the deadly Ebola virus. As of late October, Ebola has sickened more than 13,000 people in West Africa, mostly in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Nearly half have died. Because of the characteristics of the virus, particularly in the way contagious fluids spread from Ebola patients, health workers are at greater risk of infection. At least 520 nurses and other healthcare work- ers have been infected in West Africa, and more than half of them have died. Our sister union in Liberia has labeled Ebola the "nurse killer" disease. Thus, to confront Ebola in the United States, where the only people to become infected to date have been RNs, guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention constantly shift, hospitals refuse to adopt optimal safeguards, and our federal government has failed to compel them to do so, we have called for the precautionary principle as the standard. Simply put, the precautionary principle holds that absent scientific consensus that a particular risk is not harmful, especially one that can have catastrophic consequences, the highest level of safeguards must be adopted. Years of experience with the hospital industry has made it crystal clear that our hospitals are guided by their own philoso- phy, the profit principle, spending as little as they can, even in the face of pandemics or epidemics that threaten their patients, their staff, and their wider communities. For those hospitals, that means providing nurses the least effective personal protective equipment (PPE) for interacting with Ebola patients or patients with Ebola symptoms. It also means conducting limited training programs, practicing with PPEs that would fail to stop exposure to the virus, or restricting the drills to a handful of nurses and other staff. Lack of resources is not the issue. U.S. hospitals racked up $64 billion in profits in 2012, according to the American Hospital Association. They can afford to embrace the highest standards. Global pharmaceutical corporations, which have for years failed to develop an Ebola vaccine because it was not profitable enough, made nearly $600 billion in profits the past five years, enough to buy 1.8 billion hazmat suits. The hospitals are willing to gamble with the lives and safety of RNs and other health workers. But we are not. Further, we know that the scientific consen- sus is not closed on the possibility of other ways in which the Ebola virus may be transmitted beyond the well-documented spread through bodily fluids, as well as the potential mutation of the virus that could complicate existing treatment and protective regimens. If registered nurses, the people who will be caring for Ebola patients and are at the most risk, are not protected from the Ebola virus, no one is protected. Stopping Ebola in our hospi- tals is the only way to stop Ebola in the U.S. The precautionary principle starts with optimal PPEs, understanding that Ebola is an especially virulent virus that attacks its host piteously, and will aggressively seek to infect others as it searches for a new host. After expansive review of the foremost protective gear used by the premiere U.S. institutions that have treated Ebola patients, such as Nebraska Medical Center, and others who have had expertise dealing with Ebola, our basic directive is: Nothing gets in, period. Not multiple standards, which means no standard, or a drop-down menu, as the CDC has offered hospitals. It means full-body hazmat suits that meet the American Society for Testing and Materials F1670 standard for blood penetra- tion, F1671 standard for viral penetration, and that leave no skin exposed or unprotect- ed, and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health-approved powered air purifying respirators with an assigned protection factor of at least 50. It means continuous, interactive training for RNs and other health workers who may RoseAnn DeMoro Executive Director, National Nurses United The Precautionary Principle Corporate healthcare refuses to accept the concept of being better safe than sorry (Continued on page 15) Slip-On Booties Fluid-Resistant Gown N95 Respirator with Face Shield What CDC says hospitals get to choose: Ebola (Ebola Virus Disease) Personal Protective Equipment W W MULTIPLE CHOICE IS NOT A STANDARD WHAT RNs NEED

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