The Manitoba Nurses Union (MNU) is voicing concern about the availability of personal protective equipment (PPE), and says the province is sending out mixed messages.
Manitoba put out a public plea for medical gear last week — including masks, gloves and gowns — and also said it was spending $100 million to boost supplies.
It’s a request the MNU says caught them off guard.
“On one hand the government and Shared Health are saying things are good, we have enough to last, and on the other hand they’re coming out and asking the public sector to donate PPE,” said MNU president Darlene Jackson.
“That is a mixed message for nurses and it’s very worrying.”
The discrepancy in the message coming from the legislature has been addressed a number of times, with the government saying it’s a preemptive move.
“So we are concerned that we procure even more protective gear and protective equipment and other relevant supplies that are necessary to offer security and confidence to people who need to use our health care facilities.”
His comments are in line with those of Health Minister Cameron Friesen, who just last month not only requested donations of PPE, but also services, ranging from health and nursing to laundry or transportation.
“We’re wanting to be clear on this, we’re not out of supplies, we’re doing this out of an abundance of caution. Manitoba is arguably ahead of many other provinces when it comes to preparations,” Friesen said on March 25.
“So while we have supply and products right now, we know we’re going to need more”
The head of the nurses’ union says in order to streamline things and quell worries, it may be better to have nurses in charge of distributing gear.
“Let nurses help with the stewardship of those supplies, let nurses be the ones to make the judgment of what they need and when they need it,” Jackson says.
“I have many, many nurses who are emailing me all the time saying ‘here’s a really good idea, I took it to my manager and they’re not interested,’ so we have nurses out there that want to help.”
Jackson says nurses continue to have concerns about their access to PPE, even though authorities are trying to be reassuring.
“We believe the Manitoba government needs to follow in the footsteps of Ontario, and Alberta, and B.C., which is allowing nurses to — on their clinical assessment and clinical judgment — make a decision on what PPE is appropriate for use at that time for that patient,” Jackson says.
For instance, Jackson says health care providers are only required to wear surgical masks when using nasal swabs to test for the virus, even though the more protective N95 mask may be more appropriate.
“And that’s very disappointing; nurses are asked every day of their career … to use clinical assessment skills and clinical judgment to do what’s best for themselves and their patient — especially for their patient — and in this one instance they are not allowed to use that.”
Meantime, Lanette Siragusa, chief nursing officer of Shared Health, maintained the government’s stance today.
“We are in a better position than we were last week,” Siragusa said during the daily press conference.
“We still want to replenish our supplies more because there were a few shipments that didn’t come in the volumes we were expecting, but we’re anticipating we’re going to be OK.”