Registered Nurses of CNA/NNOC requests meeting with HCA regarding its policy on use of surgical masks

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.

Given this background, explains Dorothy Higgins, an ICU RN and chief nurse representative at HCA's Regional Medical Center in San Jose, Calif., the newly announced flu policy amounts to "punishment not prevention, and a medically inappropriate response to the disease. Where are the stringent patient safety standards we need? Where is the focus on prevention?"

"HCA knows full well that the surgical masks they are attempting to force on nurses don't protect anyone from the H1N1 virus, they just provide the illusion of protection, and that may be even more dangerous," Higgins continued. "HCA won't save the life of a single patient by going to war with its nurses. We are calling on HCA to work with CNA/NNOC to meet the highest standards set by the CDC to help us stop the transmission of this deadly virus."

"As an HCA nurse, I want to keep my patients safe--and I think HCA should contribute to that, instead of just 'masking' the problem," said Karen Clendenin, a RN at MountainView Hospital, an HCA facility in Las Vegas.