In response to a new policy imposed by the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) mandating flu shots for all employees and requiring masks, the Registered Nurses of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC) have requested a meeting with hospital executives on behalf of the chain's 50,000 RNs over this life-and-death issue.
HCA recently announced a policy, under threat of termination, mandating the use of surgical masks at all times by nurses who have not received a seasonal flu vaccine. Surgical masks have been proven ineffective in stopping both the H1N1 virus and the seasonal flu virus, meaning this policy amounts to punishment masquerading as precaution.
This new policy comes after nurses have criticized what they call "widespread" failures by HCA to secure the appropriate N95 masks that would reduce the transmission of the H1N1 virus, and also the lack of consistent guidelines across the chain for the isolation of infected patients. The tragic death last week of a young swine flu patient at an HCA facility in Port St. Lucie, Florida, who was not isolated, highlights the dangers of unilateral actions by hospital management on this issue without consultation of the nursing staff and the urgent need for genuine precautions.