Let’s ask the nurses who were there.[Thomas] Duncan was suspected of having Ebola when he was admitted to a hospital isolation unit Sept. 28, and he developed projectile vomiting and explosive diarrhea later that day, according to medical records his family turned over to The Associated Press.
But workers at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas did not abandon their gowns and scrubs for hazmat suits until tests came back positive for Ebola about 2 p.m. on Sept. 30, according to details of the records released by AP.
[...]
The misstep – one in a series of potentially deadly mishandling of Duncan — raises the likelihood that other health care workers could have been infected. More than 70 workers were exposed to him before he died, but hospital officials have not indicated how many treated him in the initial few days.
Hospital officials have likewise not responded to repeated requests for comment about what types of protective gear was used the first few days, and why officials felt a need to change the gear being used on Sept. 30.
Dallas News
Leaders of the National Nurses Union read a statement Tuesday which they said represented concerns from a number of nurses that work at Texas Health Presbyterian in Dallas. The union officials declined to identify the Dallas nurses or say how many were participating in the statement.
But they were vociferous in citing a lack of protocols on the day that Thomas Eric Duncan was admitted with extreme symptoms of Ebola.
Among the flaws cited by the group included:
• insufficient garb worn by the emergency personnel
• the fact that Duncan was left "for hours" in a non-quarantined zone
• that his lab samples were sent in the same way that normal specimens are sent
• hospital official allowed nurses involved with Duncan to take care of other patients
[...]
"Were protocols breached?" said union spokeswoman Rose Ann DeMoro, "There were no protocols."
CBS
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