Nurses across the country and state have been continually calling for their employers to ensure they have access to new protective garments like masks, gowns and face shields. At 6 a.m. Thursday morning, the time of their regular shift change, nurses rallied in front of UCSF Mission Bay to reiterate their demands for better access to personal protective equipment, which they need to work safely with coronavirus patients.
Jamille Cabacungan, a registered nurse at UCSF Medical Center, said nurses are being told to reuse face shields, masks and gowns. She described a typical day on the job during the pandemic as a 12-hour shift that begins with precautions like a temperature check and that requires careful planning to accommodate new procedures for patients with COVID-19.
“It’s a mental game. It’s kind of like, okay, you have to really prep yourself and give yourself a pep talk of, you know, ‘I can do this safely. I can take care of my patients safely despite the circumstances.’” — Jamille Cabacungan
A request for comment from UCSF was not returned by broadcast time, but we will update this story with responses if they become available. On March 11, UCSF issued a statement responding to nurses’ calls for better training, protective equipment access, and communication, which read in part:
“UCSF Health specializes in the care of patients with complex conditions and has a long history of providing care for patients with infectious diseases, including SARS, MERS and HIV/AIDS. We do not, as a matter of course, notify staff when we receive patients with an infectious disease if they are not involved in the patient’s care. However, all staff who are involved in caring for patients with COVID-19 are properly trained and are fully informed of their patients’ illness and conditions. We have extensive protocols and procedures in place for protecting our care providers, staff and other patients, based on the latest recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and PRevention, California Department of Public Health, and San Francisco Department of Public Health.”
