Nation's Largest Healthcare Union Supports Institute of Medicine Report & Recommendations to Protect Healthcare Workers Against H1N1 Influenza Virus

SEIU Calling on State and Local Health Departments to Adopt Preventive Measures

WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) -- the nation's largest organization of healthcare workers, uniting more than 1 million doctors, nurses, hospital workers, and long-term care workers -- backed the first and only comprehensive, scientific review that offers guidelines to protect healthcare workers caring for patients with a suspected or confirmed case of H1N1 (Swine Flu).

An Institute of Medicine (IOM) panel, which included a broad based group of experts in occupational health and infection, concluded in a report released this morning that the lowest level of protection for healthcare workers, when caring for a patient with a suspected or confirmed case of H1N1 (Swine Flu), is a fitted NIOSH certified respirator. The IOM convened the panel over the past two months at the request of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

While the recommendations by this panel differ from those of other groups recommending surgical masks, the IOM panel was unique in that It included experts with extensive knowledge of respiratory protection and the behavior of bioaerosols. It was also the most comprehensive review to date of the very latest published and unpublished scientific evidence.

It's extremely important that health departments across the country to adopt the recommendations by the IOM panel. The call to use NIOSH approved respirators to protect healthcare workers means protecting the people they care for," stated Mary Kay Henry, SEIU Executive Vice President and long-time advocate for healthcare workers across the country.

"Healthcare workers want to do their job in caring for their patients. But, they need to know that they are being protected. They want to be there to care for us when we get sick or injured, we need to be there for them by ensuring adequate workplace respiratory protections," said Henry.

PANEL CONCLUSIONS:

Surgical masks are incapable of forming a face seal between the mask and the users face, thus providing a poor barrier from the inhalation of airborne flu particles. This is particularly important with H1N1, as research with the H1N1 virus indicates that it is the smaller respirable sized viral particles that get deep in the lung to cause disease, making this flu virus different than seasonal flu.

Many state and local health departments have ignored this advice and recommended inferior surgical masks or no respiratory protections at all, while federal guidance by CDC, OSHA and NIOSH have supported fitted respirators for healthcare workers when caring for patients with suspected or confirmed cases of H1N1 since the start of the H1N1 pandemic.

Finally, it is critical that healthcare employers purchase and stockpile sufficient quantities of NIOSH approved respirators so that healthcare workers can be assured of protection as the fall flu season approaches. There have been reports of spot shortages of some models and brands of disposable single use N95 respirators. In the event of shortages of disposable single use N95 respirators, it is important for healthcare employers to also purchase at least one elastomeric respirator for each potentially exposed healthcare worker. These types of respirators can be disinfected and reused. The Veterans Health Administration, for instance, has just purchased 170,000 elastomeric respirators (with speaking diaphragms that assist in communication with patients) to protect their employees if their stockpile of disposable single use N95 respirators runs out.

"We're also calling on OSHA to use its authority to ensure employers establish comprehensive respiratory protection programs to protect healthcare workers from H1N1," said Henry.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, federal OSHA is statutorily charged with ensuring that employers take all reasonable actions to protect workers from hazards that pose significant risk to workers' health and safety.

POPULATION RISKS:

H1N1 appears to pose a particular risk to working-age people as more than 95 percent of hospitalized cases are of individuals under the age of 65--the exact opposite pattern for those hospitalized for seasonable flu. There is no vaccine yet and workers who eventually get vaccinated are not expected to have full immunity until at least Thanksgiving.

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