Will you work during a Pandemic?

[Goju]

admin note: we just added a poll to this thread today, april 25, 2008, please take a second and vote in the poll so we can have a graphical representation of the responses. thanks

scenario:

h5n1 (the bird flu) mutates to become efficient at transmitting human to human causing a pandemic, with a case fatality rate of 60% and with 80% of the cases in the 0-40 year old age range.

see:

http://www.wpro.who.int/nr/rdonlyres/fd4ac2fd-b7c8-4a13-a32c-6cf328a0c036/0/s4_1113.jpg

hospitals will be quickly overrun. hospital staff shortages are 50%. the government orders all nurses to work. there is not enough personal protection equipment (n95 masks, gloves, goggles, tamiflu, vax, etc)

home quarantines become common (in the fed plans).

your family is also quarantined in your home. you are running out of food and the government promises you will be "taken care of" if you report to work.

will you go?

[lamazeteacher]

for the same pay that travel nurses/strike buster nurses get, sure thing...

mercenary FTW

While nurses certainly aren't in the same income bracket as doctors, attitudes such as the above one, indicate the opportunistic tendency among health professionals, that taints our credibility.

Like opportunistic infections, this tendency thrives in financially weakened areas, causing greater deficits.

[lamazeteacher]

absolutely not. since when does our government really take care of us?

as a pre nursing student, i'm not sure what health needs you have that the government could meet, with their care............ retaliation for perceived slights, is petty and inappropriate.

when you've completed your nursing education, you will know far more about the services government agencies provide for those who are unable to take care of themselves.

i'm a senior and medicare, medicaid, legal aid, and social security took over when my income crashed recently. i appreciate that very much, and know that my taxes now work for me, as well as other needy americans and others who have worked legally, here.

[psychonaut]

While nurses certainly aren't in the same income bracket as doctors, attitudes such as the above one, indicate the opportunistic tendency among health professionals, that taints our credibility.

Like opportunistic infections, this tendency thrives in financially weakened areas, causing greater deficits.

I am a trained professional. Demanding hazard pay to place myself (and by extension, my loved ones) in harm's way, using my professional skills and abilities to benefit others, is in no way, shape, or form opportunistic.

Worrying about "credibility," encouraging a martyr complex of service, etc. is one big reason why nurses aren't in that doctor income bracket.

There will always be a reason for a nurse to go "above and beyond," and to be guilted out of demanding rightful compensation. Pandemic, staff shortages, "for the good of the unit," etc. will always be there. I will not be the co-dependent battered wife, making excuses for my exploitation and apologizing for my temerity in knowing my own worth.

Where is my Jedi Master lindarn? Paging lindarn! We disagree about mandated point-of-entry into the profession, and I remain somewhat ambivalent about trade unions, but she is my hero when it comes to bemoaning the lack of self-marketing and unity exhibited by our profession and neglected in our nursing schools.

Hazard pay, and professional pay for professional work.

[Laidback Al]

Swine flu stresses nursing staff at Winnipeg hospitals

Last Updated: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 | 2:25 PM CT

CBC NEWS

The swine flu pandemic is taxing the nursing staff at some Winnipeg hospitals, which are scaling back vacation time and retraining members for intensive care unit work.

The head of the Manitoba Nurses Union, Sandi Mowatt, said it's been a particularly stressful time for nurses at St. Boniface hospital, where most of the flu cases are being treated.

"They have a strain on their ICU bed situation and required some more nursing help with that. So they have seconded nurses in their own hospital who have previous intensive care experience to work in their ICU," she said.

'They have seconded nurses in their own hospital who have previous intensive care experience to work in their ICU during this period of time.'-- Sandi Mowatt, Manitoba Nurses Union

Mowatt said nurses who haven' t worked in ICU for a while will be receive training before they care for patients.

"It's certainly disconcerting for the nurses who haven't worked in ICU for a little bit to come and work in an area that they may not be familiar with at this time, but having said that, nurses are the consummate professionals," she said.

The strain at St. Boniface has been heightened by an increased demand for care at Victoria Hospital. Consequently, a number of St. Boniface nurses have had to be posted at Victoria to help with the workload, Mowatt said.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/st...-winnipeg.html

credits to The Doctor (Grattan Woodson)

[indigo girl]

Here we are voting on whether or not we will work, and I am just finding out about the outcome of this class action suit in Canada.

Wow! Kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it?

http://www.nationalpost.com/related/links/story.html?id=1575691

[marslarks]

wiht or without pay..im willing to work during pandemic..it doesnt matter what happens to me, what matters is you have help and save thousands..anyways hiding yourself from all the diseases doenst guarantee you wont have one..we are nurses..we have work during disasters annd holidays..if you cant take this kind of life, then probably nursing is not for you..

[achot chavi]

While nurses certainly aren't in the same income bracket as doctors, attitudes such as the above one, indicate the opportunistic tendency among health professionals, that taints our credibility.

Like opportunistic infections, this tendency thrives in financially weakened areas, causing greater deficits.

I disagree, we should do our jobs with integrity and professionalism etc., but we shouldn't sell ourselves short,

we aren't asking for MORE than we deserve by asking for proper financial compensation for our work, as we could be using that time for other more lucrative positions or be home with all that entails. We deserve our salaries and they are typically - less than we should be earning. If asked to work as a traveling nurse, we should be compensated as such.

I think it is a far jump to accuse us of being opportunistic, and asking for proper compensation does not taint our credibility!!!

[achot chavi]

wiht or without pay..im willing to work during pandemic..it doesnt matter what happens to me, what matters is you have help and save thousands..anyways hiding yourself from all the diseases doenst guarantee you wont have one..we are nurses..we have work during disasters annd holidays..if you cant take this kind of life, then probably nursing is not for you..

I agree with all the rest but NOT with the first 4 words

Why should we provide a valuable service and not be compensated...lets not get over dramatic about things, the world is not ending...even with this pandemic.

Regarding not caring about what happens to you....How can you say that, of course you care about yourself or you couldn't care about others...Helping others is important but you must also take care of yourself as well-

[Girl Scout]

Btw... the scenario in the OP is a really grave, end-of-rope scenario. The poll is not about the 2009 pandemic as it stands right at this moment.

First... if I don't care about myself, how in the world would I be able to care about someone else? That just doesn't make sense. It matters very much to me and my family what happens to me, and I bet it matters to my residents and pts if I'm not there any more because I got sick and died (per the OP) because I didn't care about what happened to me.

Second, I am never going to work without pay unless I am voluntarily providing my services. Note the "voluntary" part - volunteerism. I do volunteer work now, I like to do volunteer work during disasters also (Red Cross disaster response team member here). But I'm not going to be forced to work without pay. I'm sure saying "with or without pay" could mean volunteerism, but I also can't imagine a scenario where a facility I'm working at and is paying me, suddenly changes me to a volunteer in the midst of a disaster so that I have to work for no pay. I still need to buy food and medicine and insurance to keep myself healthy so that I can work, so I need a paycheck.

Third, I may be just a nursing assistant, but I don't think it's fair to anyone to basically say "you are unworthy of the title of Nurse, if you are unwilling to go to the lengths that I think you should go to."

[GooeyRN, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

With or without pay??? How will you feed yourself/your family and pay your bills?

[mello1177]

can't figure out why someone would become a nurse if they would not

[marslarks]

im not being overly dramatic about things..it depends on one's opinion of things..i respect of that of yours..what i meant was on volunteering so im willing to volunteer without pay..and with regards to payment ive been working over a year now in a hospital were i work too much and they pay little..so there is no actually difference if thre is payment or not..second of all even if i get paid its not enough to compensate me for my daily expenses so my parents still actually gives me allowance since they know that here in our country nurses are underpaid..thats why im willing to work during pandemic..3rd of all maybe im thinking this way because im single and i know that my family can provide themselves with everything so im wiling to go to the extremes..and 4th with proper precautionary measures and im sure vaccines, mask etc are given before you work or volunteer so i dont think we will easily get sick so that means i still be able to take care of others..answer me this..what if there is an outbreak of something and no one to pay you, would you help knowing you know about health???