More than 10,000 nurses at California’s largest not-for-profit hospital system have stopped striking after their union reached a settlement with hospital officials. The agreement, according to both parties, sets a national standard to guard against the spread of the H1N1 flu and future pandemics.
The agreement between the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee and Catholic Healthcare West calls for creating a system-wide emergency task force that includes both nurses and hospital representatives to respond to a declaration of a pandemic emergency, reports Tidings Online.
The nurses initially protested against poor readiness by many hospitals to confront the H1N1 swine flu pandemic. They claimed many hospitals do a poor job of isolating patients with H1N1 symptoms and taking other steps to limit the spread of infection. According to the allegations, nurses were also not provided with sufficient fit-tested N95 respirators and other protective gear.
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