Ever since two Texas nurses tested positive for the Ebola virus after caring for Thomas Eric Duncan, our attention has been sharply focused on making sure that health care providers have the necessary training to safely treat future patients. Several facilities across the country have gone to great lengths in an attempt to force administrators to make sure the proper training is offered and, in some cases, nurses who feel unprepared have voted to strike.
In northern California, there are 18,000 nurses in 21 hospitals and 65 clinics owned by Kaiser Permanente who are planning a two-day strike beginning Tuesday, Nov. 11. According to Charles Idelson, a spokesman for National Nurses United, the union's contract with nonprofit Kaiser expired in August and was extended until October.
While discussing contractual matters, the union saw this as a prime opportunity to push for better, hands-on Ebola training, but according to Idelson, Kaiser "continued to stonewall on dozens of proposals to improve patient care standards, as well as refusing to address the concern of Kaiser RNs about Ebola safety protocols and protective equipment, refusing to even answer questions by the RNs."
Kaiser insists that it has tried to enlist the union's help when it comes to an Ebola strategy, but it has been unreceptive to the idea and instead prefers talking about how Kaiser refuses to train its workers.
This is not the only company that is facing a strike: 800 workers will walk off the job in another part of northern California Nov. 11, and the next day 400 nurses in Washington will also strike. It is not at all surprising that Ebola training has become a major talking point in new contract negotiations across the country.
Health care professionals have watched as their own have been infected due to inept training and then blamed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for getting sick. Those working in any hospital's front-lines need to be as prepared and protected as possible, and it is insane that these facilities would rather risk bad press later rather than absorb the cost of proper training now, don't you think?
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