the situation is especially dire at hospitals serving communities of color or patients on Medicaid, NBC News has found.
A recent survey by the American Nurses Association found that 79 percent of nurses were encouraged, or even required, to reuse PPE, and 59 percent said they felt unsafe doing so. The survey included more than 14,000 nurses from all 50 states.were affecting many major hospitals. But most of those larger facilities have now been able to replenish their supplies.
And staff at some major hospitals are now being told that they can no longer wear N95 masks during their shifts if they work on floors that do not have COVID-19 patients, a new measure to conserve equipment. “It’s a huge problem,” he said. “At almost all facilities, they are forcing health care workers to reuse. Some are given one N95 a week.”Compounding the shortages at these hospitals is that the very population they serve are the ones most at risk for developing severe cases of COVID-19. Athat looked at a snapshot of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in March found that more than 30 percent are African American.
“They delayed cancer and other screenings as well as surgeries, so it’s critical that practices reopen but we are hearing from our colleagues across the country that they are having challenges,” she said., a nonprofit dedicated to securing PPE for those in need, said getting more supplies is nearly impossible for many of these facilities.
The solution is systemic change in the way PPE is distributed, something that needs to come at the federal level and something that should have happened months ago, both health care experts and union officials say.
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