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The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. is under fire after a nurse boarded a plane — even though she reported having a low grade fever — after treating an Ebola patient.
That nurse is the second healthcare worker to be diagnosed with Ebola after taking care of now-deceased Thomas Duncan. And that’s raising a lot of concerns on this side of the border.
New Ebola protocols for Ontario healthcare workers are expected to be announced Friday.
Dr. Neil Rau of Halton Healthcare says that first, the Ebola virus has not changed — it hasn’t become airborne. But he did touch base on what we could see from the health minister when it comes to updating protocols in terms of handling the Ebola virus here in Canada.
Despite not having a case of Ebola in Canada, and with health ministers claiming to be prepared for a possible outbreak, nurses across the country are not confident in the current protocols.
Doris Grinspun, CEO, Registered Nurses Association of Ontario: “The system as a whole needs to be prepared not only hospitals need to be prepared and we need appropriate protocols in place as well as comprehensive province-wide plan for the movement of patients in the event we have people not only with symptoms of Ebola but also those who have been diagnosed with Ebola”
This comes in the wake of a second Texas hospital nurse being diagnosed with Ebola. She treated Thomas Eric Duncan, who died of the illness. But according to Dr. Neil Rau, an infectious disease specialist, front-line nurses don’t have to worry about contracting the disease: “That it’s most likely they will see someone in the early phase of the disease, people in the early phase of the disease are not very contagious.”
However, Dr. Rau says the improper removal of gear leaves nurses who work with patients who are in the critical and contagious stage of the illness at risk.
Dr. Rau: “When you’re dealing with virus that has high stakes and could potentially kill 50% of people, there’s zero tolerance for error.”
And that’s why the CEO of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario has asked the provincial health minister for what she calls a ‘watchdog system’.
Doris Grinspun: “Specifically to monitor how people are putting on the suits and taking them off in the correct steps that this requires.”
Dr. Rau believes that the “watchdog or buddy system” will be a change announced tomorrow, but he’s also looking out for potential changes to the suits themselves
Dr. Rau: “Do we need more than just the mask, gloves and gown approach? Do we need to put people in waterproof or spill proof suits with the personal respirator system?”
Some of these changes are expected to be announced at some point Friday. But the doctor also mentioned that it’s going to be a very slim chance that there’s going to be an Ebola presence here in Canada. That’s why he hopes the federal government actually increases their funds to fight the actual problem and that’s over in West Africa.
