Nurses Rally to Demand Stronger Swine Flu Safety Protections

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

hospitals remain unprepared despite first nurse death

university of california fires rn who spoke out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hueit8zkvq

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

California nurses campaign for better H1N1 protections

...Asking nurses to re-don disposable respirators increases the chance of transmitting infection, according to the California Nurses Association.

Taking off a respirator affects the mask's seal, and storing a respirator is worrisome, said Bonnie Castillo, the CNA's director of government relations.

At UC Davis Medical Center, nurses are told to store masks in plastic bags.

Written hospital instructions say: "It is safe to re-use N95 masks - following the steps listed below - for up to 12 hours, unless the masks becomes wet, torn or otherwise damaged."

Marsha Koopman, a manager of infection prevention at UC Davis, said the instructions are based on science.

Nurses disagree.

"To put a mask in a plastic bag and then having to put it back on basically means that you have to give yourself whatever is stuck to that mask," said Janet Braillard, an ICU nurse at Sutter Solano Medical Center in Vallejo....

http://www.sacbee.com/politics/story/2131925.html