Complaint #1 Received 9/28/2020- Reported by UFCW #21 The employer is requiring Patient Registration workers to spend more than 15 minutes alongside patients in Emergency Department rooms without proper PPE needed for potential respiratory hazards. Other workers in the emergency room are provided N-95 respirators upon entrance
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of patient rooms. The employer is not providing or allowing the use of respirators that provide a facial fit and efficient filtration of airborne particles to protect both the patient and worker. Complaint #2 Received 10/9/2020- Reported by WSNA Insufficient training related to Covid-19 procedures, Infection control procedures, reporting covid-19 exposures, donning and doffing, respirators and PPE Nurses at Tacoma General undergo an annual mandatory training for PPE use; however, no additional training around PPE use and safety was given related to COVID-19. One nurse reports spending an hour online using video tutorials to determine how to use a PAPR because training was not provided by management. This resulted in the nurse using the PAPR incorrectly putting herself and her patients at risk. Employees are exposed to risk of COVID-19 infection due to Employer's failure to isolate confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients COVID-19 patients are no longer being held on COVID specific units. This was the practice at the beginning, but now, COVID patients are dispersed throughout the hospital. This is in direct contradiction to the September 2020 Hazard Alert which states, COVID-19 positive and COVID-19 suspect patients must be physically isolated from non-infected persons. Nurses are given a mix of COVID and non-COVID patients. Nurse complaints (attached) from late September were filed because the same nurse was delivering chemotherapy to some patients, while also providing care to COVID patients on another unit. The nurse told management of her concerns regarding the immunocompromised chemo patients, but management instructed the nurse was instructed to treat both sets of patients anyway. Additionally, other nurses filed complaints in mid-August when COVID-positive patients were placed in non-negative air flow rooms. The nurses treating these patients had failed their N95 fit tests and were not provided proper PPE to keep them safe. Additionally, patients who are COVID positive are transferred between units unsafely. Sometimes this includes while on aerosolizing oxygen, increasing the chances of COVID becoming airborne. There is no way to protect the staff or visitors in the hospital who are passing in the hallways, or in elevators, while the patient transfers. There is no protocol to warn them nor to provide them with safety equipment. Employees working with COVID-positive patients not given N95 masks Tacoma General policy states that a surgical mask and eyewear is the appropriate PPE for attending COVID-positive patients unless the patient is undergoing aerosol generating procedures. Nurses are not provided with N95 masks and are told they are not necessary. The nurse can still request an N95, but it is generally discouraged by management. This practice directly contradicts the September 2020 Hazard Alert, which states: Employees who enter the room of a patient with a suspected or confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection must follow Standard Precautions and use a NIOSH-approved N95 or equivalent or higher-level respirator, gown, gloves, and eye protection. The hospital says it does not have enough CAPRs, so nurses who have failed N95 fit testing are given a surgical mask and eye protection, per hospital policy, when caring for a COVID-positive patient. At Conference Committee on October 1, management reported a shortage of N95 masks due to the lack of available sizes in the state surplus. However, daily since August 3, 2020, MultiCare Tacoma General has attested in the state's WA HEALTH Database to being in Conventional use of N95s. On Med Surg units, N95 masks are only for
Source: Osha.gov | Receipt Date: 2020-09-28
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