Dallas Presbyterian Nurse Interview

Nurses COVID

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What do all of you think of the interview w/ RN Briana Aguirre, an employee of Dallas Presbyterian who helped care for Timothy Duncan and is now speaking out about the working conditions.

Dallas nurse Briana Aguirre: 'We never talked about Ebola' before Thomas Eric Duncan arrived - Health - TODAY.com

I think she was very articulate and very brave for coming forward. I worry for her job. I hope she does not get fired but if she does, I would hope that her fellow nurses would step up to help her out until she found new employment. She put herself out there to help protect all of us nurses potentially facing taking care of an Ebola infected patient.

Thank you for posting. I think she was very brave as well and glad she secured an attorney; since the attorney stated someone like Brianna will be labeled as a "whistle blower".

I think many of us would be at our breaking point to have to deal with the lies, the BS, not getting answers, not getting proper gear etc… I can’t shake those visual images of these poor nurses applying surgical tape around their neck to cover the exposed areas of skin and the the bio hazard waste piled up to the ceiling. Grrrrr!

If she does lose her job, I think her fellow nurses and across America would help her on the gofundme website. The nurse Nina Pham has $64,512 of donations.

Specializes in ICU/PACU.

Very brave of her to speak out. And important because I think this is how 99% of all hospitals across our country would have handled it.

Specializes in Psych, LTC/SNF, Rehab, Corrections.

SMH

She's so brave and I'm glad that she had the balls to speak out..bc the CDC AND that hospital arent doing a thing but covering their butts.

What she says doesnt really surprise me in that I've had to "make do" on the floor as well

I just thought -since it was Ebola - special attn would be paid...even if the floor/hospital had to strain resources and hands to do it. Frankly, if it were an ICU there wld be a strain bc they've got other critical pts who need to be stopped from trying to die.

Like...: Float a nurse or two from another dept. Hire more PCTs/nurses - these facilities have the money to do it. Everyone pull together and dispose of waste properly. Everyone watch each other's back.

That kind of thing.

Yet, I dont believe that Dallas Pres shld be the "whipping boy" for a widespread problem. Its not just them. Health insurance is "Big Business" but they're not the only health-related entity that is....

Another HERO here in my opinion. I wish her tape would be played today in front of the Capitol Hill hearing. Some of these political hacks and CDC officials etc are sickening. Mr. Long from Missouri thank you for your opening remarks praising these nurses.

Specializes in Nurse Scientist-Research.
Yet, I dont believe that Dallas Pres shld be the "whipping boy" for a widespread problem. Its not just them. Health insurance is "Big Business" but they're not the only health-related entity that is....

Agree that this hospital should not be made out to be a "problem child". This is a fine institution; there at least a dozen or more other DFW hospitals I would place below them for quality, this hospital has a fine reputation.

What I'm saying is; if you fall into the trap of saying "Oh, this turned into a disaster cause this hospital *****, then you risk not seeing the problems that are rampant in the system nationwide. Learn the lessons this excellent facility, now fallen from grace, has to teach!

Yet, I dont believe that Dallas Pres shld be the "whipping boy" for a widespread problem. Its not just them. Health insurance is "Big Business" but they're not the only health-related entity that is....

I agree. My hospital would have had even less resources. I work at a small community hospital.

She was very brave. It is good she had her lawyer. She's gonna need one because she did what needed to be done and what needed to be said. I hope this entire incident will give hospitals pause and maybe MAYBE they will quit abusing the hell out of nurses. This is only highlighting the tip of the iceberg in hospital abuse of nurses. imo.

The management/leadership/admin, w/e you want to call it, of the CDC and Texas presbyterian are concerned with covering their butts. They could care less about the 2 nurses that contracted ebola. Like any business, money is the motivating factor. These nurses contracted the disease b/c the hospital was likely too cheap to buy appropriate PPE and too cheap to train staff on how to deal with patients with deadly and highly contagious viral infections and too ignorant/careless. The frontline workers (nurses/doctors), ect...are expendable in their eyes. Obviously this nurse is risking her career. No hospital would want to hire a whistleblower, even if she did the right thing. Hospitals, like any other business, do not care about honesty. They care about labor and money, and how they will use you to their benefit. So this nurses best bet is to keep her job by hiring an attorney who will defend her that way admin can't pull any funny business. I'm surprised nurses working there would even stay, the spread of ebola is unpreventable at this stage of the game, dallas is ground zero. I'd run out of there w/o blinking twice. A job isn't worth your life

I agree she was brave and a hero!

I'm actually very concerned for her. In this country the track record for whistleblowers isn't a good one. She's a relatively new nurse, now facing career ending stigma. She has two young children. She has no help in caring for those children per her words.

I'm afraid that people in positions of influence will drag her through the mud, as has been done to others in the past. I'm afraid she will have little recourse but to relocate. Perhaps she can go to CA, where NNU could offer her an opportunity to continue her practice, and ultimately expand her career.

I applaud and admire her for having the courage to step forward and negate the attempted smokescreen. I applaud her for chosing to not only point out the blatent errors, but also to speak well of her hospital and co-workers. And I appreciate the fear she is experiencing. Ultimately, I wish there was something I could do to help her.

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