Group says hospitals not prepared to protect nurses from H1N1

Preliminary findings of a survey of nurses at more than 75 hospitals across the country have found disturbing gaps in preparedness for responding to H1N1 and protecting health care workers from infection, according to the California Nurses Association.

The group said the findings take on greater urgency after the recent death of a nurse in Sacramento, Calif., due to H1N1, as well as a Government Accountability Office report to Congress that warned the U.S. is still not adequately prepared for a worse outbreak this fall.

At least a third of the hospitals surveyed have had infected patients. Nurses in more than 10 percent of the hospitals, the study found, did not have access to the recommended N-95 respirator masks. In addition, in more than a quarter of the hospitals, nurses had been expected to reuse masks, which health officials said is a very risky practice.

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The survey also found that in 20 percent of the hospitals surveyed, nurses said proper infection control procedures are not being followed. More than a third of the hospitals, according to respondents, have failed to properly explain their H1N1 policies to the nursing staff.

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September 14, 2009

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