U.S. Nurses Say Hospitals Not Well Prepared To Deal With Ebola

A nurse in Dallas who helped care for Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian who died last week of Ebola, is being treated for the virus herself. She is the first person to contract Ebola in the U.S.

She was wearing protective gear, but officials at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital say there was a breach of protocol.

Now, nurses and health care workers across the country are wondering if they are adequately prepared and equipped to care for possible Ebola patients.

Bonnie Castillo, the director of the disaster response network for National Nurses United, tells Here & Now's Robin Young she is not surprised the nurse contracted Ebola.

"There were massive failures right from the beginning," Castillo said. "Our nurses are filling out the surveys, and 85 percent of them are saying they have not had an level of interactive education, training, drills in their facilities. All of this has to be a uniformed, concerted effort. We know there have been insufficient guidelines issued, and certainly no enforcement mechanisms."

Castillo says hospitals have inadequately prepared their nurses and other healthcare workers for the possibility of an Ebola patient, but that doesn't have to be the case.

"We're asking for the hospitals to prepare by engaging in a robust interactive education and training drill with the nurses and the healthcare providers and workers who are going to be interfacing directly with these patients as they come in," Castillo said. "We have the resources in this country. This is not West Africa. We should not have another patient, nurse or healthcare worker infected."