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-*A nurses' union is sounding the alarm about safety protocols at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas after two nurses there apparently contracted Ebola from a patient who later died of the virus.Nurses Nina Pham*and Amber Vinson had close contact with Thomas Eric Duncan as they assisted in his care earlier this month. Duncan, a Liberian national who was the first case of Ebola to be diagnosed in the United States, died October 8.Were protocols in place at the hospital to deal with Ebola?The nurses who talked to National Nurses United said Ebola guidelines for the health care workers at the Dallas hospital were "constantly changing," the union said."The protocols that should have been in place in Dallas were not in place, and ... those protocols are not in place anywhere in the United States as far as we can tell," National Nurses United Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro said Tuesday night. "We're deeply alarmed."CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta said that claim and others allegedly made by the nurses -- if true -- are "startling." He said some of the alleged revelations could be "important when it comes to possible other infections."Officials from National Nurses United declined to specify how many nurses they had spoken with, and it did not identify them to protect them from possible retaliation. The nurses at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital are not members of a union, officials said.2nd health care worker tests positive for Ebola at Dallas hospitalWhat does the hospital say? And other officials?"We take compliance very seriously," hospital spokesman Wendell Watson said. "We have numerous measures in place to provide a safe working environment, including mandatory annual training and a 24-7 hotline and other mechanisms that allow for anonymous reporting."No further comment was immediately available from the hospital.Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings declined to comment on the accusations against the hospital, saying he doesn't "comment on anonymous allegations."The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a statement in response to the union's claims."For health care workers in Dallas and elsewhere, the Ebola situation is extremely difficult," CDC spokesman Tom Skinner wrote. "The CDC is committed to their safety, and we'll continue to do everything possible to make sure they have what they need so they can prepare to safely manage Ebola patients."What about the hospital protocol for Ebola patient Duncan?On the day that Duncan was admitted to the hospital with possible Ebola symptoms, he was "left for several hours, not in isolation, in an area where other patients were present," union co-president Deborah Burger said.Up to seven other patients were present in that area, the nurses said, according to the union.A nursing supervisor faced resistance from hospital authorities when the supervisor demanded that Duncan be moved to an isolation unit, the nurses said, according to the union.Concern grows about the spread of EbolaWeren't the nurses wearing protective clothing?Nurses at the hospital expressed concerns that their necks were exposed, despite the fact that they were wearing other protective gear, the union said.In response, the nurses were told to wrap their necks with medical tape, the union says."They were told to use medical tape and had to use four to five pieces of medical tape wound around their neck. The nurses have expressed a lot of concern about how difficult it is to remove the tape from their neck," Burger said.Shouldn't the nurses have been trained to handle Ebola?There was no required training, the union claims."There was no mandate for nurses to attend training," Burger said, though they did receive an email about a hospital seminar on Ebola."This was treated like hundreds of other seminars that were routinely offered to staff," she said.Why did the group of nurses go to the nursing union, if they're not members?According to DeMoro, a number of nurses were upset after authorities appeared to put some of the blame on Pham when she became ill."This nurse was being blamed for not following protocols that did not exist. ... The nurses in that hospital were very angry, and they decided to contact us," DeMoro said.The nurses are worried that conditions at the hospital "may lead to infection of other nurses and patients," Burger added.How bleak a picture does the union paint?At one point, the hazardous waste piled up in the hospital, union claims."There was no one to pick up hazardous waste as it piled to the ceiling," Burger said. "They did not have access to proper supplies."CNN's Michael Martinez, Dave Alsup and Miriam Falco contributed to this report
I like the tape around the neck thing...
Seriously though this brings up another relevant point. Doing things that someone asks of you just because they seem like they are in charge. Your job is nit worth your life.
If you are a nurse and dont want to do what is being asked of you because you are fairly certain tbe asker is clueless, what do you do? In this instance I guess you could quite your job right? Thats about it.
I like the tape around the neck thing...
Seriously though this brings up another relevant point. Doing things that someone asks of you just because they seem like they are in charge. Your job is nit worth your life.
If you are a nurse and dont want to do what is being asked of you because you are fairly certain tbe asker is clueless, what do you do? In this instance I guess you could quite your job right? Thats about it.
