Nurses around the nation are getting seriously ill from constant exposure to hazardous chemicals and are forced to quit, according to a new report.Take, for example, Paxson Barker of Baltimore. Barker, a registered nurse for 35 years, had to shift to a desk job after she contracted adult onset asthma. She became ill after working more than 10 years in a cardiac clinic in Houston. Constant exposure to a harsh disinfect, quaternary ammonium, in the clinic constricted Barker’s windpipe. She suffered frequent attacks of reactive airway dysfunction. ‘‘It is not that we don’t have enough nurses,” said Nancy Hughes, director of the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health at the American Nurses Association. ‘‘While part of it is that we have too many patients, we know there are a lot of disease-environment exposures to nurses who leave, so it adds to the shortage.”

Maryland hospitals reported a nurse vacancy rate of 13 percent last year, according to the state hospital association, which last month proposed a $59 million program to train more nurses. Read more