California is one of the first states in the United States to implement proper training, funding, and facility improvements to ensure that the hospitals that could see Ebola cases, are properly prepared for those cases. The California Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced rules on Friday that would require the 300 acute-care facilities to ensure that their properly funded, and appropriated with hazmat suits, respirators, isolation rooms, and most importantly – extensive training for the staff that would be dealing with these patients.
Right now, the state does not expect to see any patients transferred there from outside the United States, so unless an individual within the U.S. was found to have the Ebola Virus, they would likely not have to be using any of those appropriations. However, it’s important and worthy to note that the virus is something that has caught many hospitals off-guard. This was especially the case with the Dallas hospital which saw Thomas Duncan, the nation’s first Ebola patient to receive treatment here in the United States for being harshly under prepared.
Nurses have praised the response of the state administration, and noted that this is the first example of truly preparing those individuals here in the United States who could be facing and fighting the disease on the front lines. Overall, the rules are viewed as more advanced, and more thorough than the rules that were put in place by the Centers for Disease Control earlier in the fall. In West Africa, roughly 5,100 individuals have died from the Ebola Virus, and it’s important to note that the growing concern was around the fact that so many places here in the United States are not prepared to handle the disease.
Other states have implemented procedures, and hospitals that are considered the “go-to” hospitals, but few have instituted actual policies and procedures. The focus is on training where many say the biggest opportunity is had currently. It’s important to note that many of those representing nurses and care workers have said training is the absolute biggest concern moving forward. This is proof that some states are beginning to take notice of that, and they’re hearing their hospital workers.
http://www.thehoopsnews.com/2014/11/02/1803/reunited-nurse-pet-reunite-texas-dog-declared-ebola-free/
Ebola has become one of the most deadly viruses that have spread in the global community, and most recently a doctor was brought to Omaha to be treated from West Africa.
