US hospitals not ready for Ebola
The National Nurses United says hospitals in the United States are not prepared to confront any possible outbreak of Ebola.
Several weeks ago, NNU, the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in the US, began surveying registered nurses across the country about emergency preparedness of hospitals in case of an outbreak.
Most of the nurses have responded that their hospital is not ready for the Ebola virus.
In a release Saturday morning, the union called on US hospitals to immediately upgrade emergency preparations for Ebola.
Eighty percent of nurses, the frontline care providers in the US, said their hospital has not informed them of any policy for admission of patients infected by Ebola.
Furthermore, 87 percent said their hospital has not provided education on the Ebola virus, and one third said their hospital has insufficient medical supplies to deal with Ebola patients.
The findings came despite repeated assurances by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that US hospitals are prepared to handle such patients.
Concern is rising in the US about the disease after Thomas Eric Duncan– the first diagnosed case of Ebola in the US– was admitted at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas on Sept. 26.
Despite being told that Duncan had recently traveled from Liberia to Texas, hospital staff failed to recognize the Ebola risk and sent him home with antibiotics.
Duncan was rushed to the hospital’s emergency department two days later sicker and more infectious. He is now in critical condition, his doctors say.
Texas health officials are closely monitoring 50 people who have had close contact with Duncan. Ten of these people are believed to be at “high risk.”
The Ebola virus, which has killed over 3,400 people in West Africa, spreads through direct contact with infected blood, feces or sweat. It can also spread through sexual contact or unprotected handling of contaminated corpses.
HRJ/HRJ