Will you work during a Pandemic?

Nurses COVID

Published

  1. Nurses, would you go to work during a Pandemic?

    • 1926
      No
    • 5592
      Yes
    • 1288
      undecided

1,893 members have participated

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?

Yup, the sky is falling. No ppe. OMG, will you help me foxy loxy? serious, how many threads do we need before someone decides that ..... wow, we are actually addressing the situation adequately. So solly, tough to get people to overact. Let's just try harder.

You are free to start your own thread in this forum stating your opinion at any time. If the threads about pandemic flu concerns bother you so much, stop reading them. Entering them to post rude comments is unnecessary.

0 Votes
Specializes in ICU,ANTICOAG,ACUTE STROKE,EDU,RESEARCH.

Don't feel adequately rewarded, appreciated or looked after now, so why would it be any different in this scenario?

Nurses will be the last people on the govs agenda.They will be too busy making sure the government ministers, members of parliament and royal family (you get the idea-the important people) are protected and cared for.

0 Votes
Specializes in Too many to list.

Of course, most of us are already working, but reading about PPE problems this early into the pandemic is worrisome.

http://www.calnurses.org/media-center/press-releases/2009/july/nurses-file-cal-osha-complaint-after-hospital-refuses-to-supply-swine-flu-masks-for-units-with-infected-patients.html

This should not be happening anywhere near this soon if that facility had done what they were supposed to have done. States were warned over 3 years ago to implement workable pandemic plans.

Someone said something about a national stockpile that includes N95 masks to be drawn upon if needed. I do not know if this is so, but I do know that no one should expect staff to put themselves at risk. How many HCW have pre-existing health problems or habits that would put them at risk for complications if they were infected? Are any of us overweight, diabetic, smokers, asthmatics or pregnant?

(hat tip to Herring and Fla Medic for the heads up on the PPE articles)

0 Votes

Wow. Just read that article. I'm shocked! Well, actually, I'm not. :uhoh21: It's not surprising to me that nurses are treated how they're treated. Sad and infuriating, yes. Surprising, no. Heck, CNAs and PCAs, too, we get trampled by administrators. Oh, I could rant and rant but I'll save it for a day when I'm more sane. :bugeyes:

There is only so much you can do without protective equipment. After that, it's a gamble on your health, or your life, and your health could end up being your life. I guess if all nurses threw caution to the wind and went into this pandemic without PPE, we would be further up the creek. It makes about as much sense as just randomly deciding we don't need to take precautions anymore with TB patients. I mean... c'mon!

0 Votes
Specializes in Too many to list.

Does your workplace really care about your safety?

State Reviews Nurse Swine Flu Threat

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12836945

Moral of story, make sure you get tested if you get sick at work, and have it documented that in your clinicians's judgement, you are diagnosed as a probable case of swine flu. Remember the rapid test has frequent false negatives. If a clinician decided to put them on Tamiflu because of the s/s, then that should be good enough proof, imo.

I wonder if the nurses are protected as whistle blowers.

The complaint was filed with the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health. By law, the state investigation must be completed within six months.

Since exposure was likely, the nurses were presumed to have swine flu and were being treated for it while staying at home to recuperate, California Nurses Association President Deborah Burger said.

Sutter Solano's Chief Nursing Executive Kim Trumbull said only one employee tested positive for swine flu and others were only known to have respiratory illness.

"If we had 10 confirmed cases then we would probably be taking it a little more seriously," Trumbull said.

The complaint claimed the hospital failed to provide nurses with individually fitted, duck bill-shaped masks used while treating patients who have an airborne illness.

It said the nurses had been provided with a brand of mask they hadn't been fitted for.

Trumbull said the hospital has more than 400 masks and provided nurses with fittings to ensure proper use.

(hat tip PFI/monotreme)

0 Votes
Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.
Don't feel adequately rewarded, appreciated or looked after now, so why would it be any different in this scenario?

Nurses will be the last people on the govs agenda.They will be too busy making sure the government ministers, members of parliament and royal family (you get the idea-the important people) are protected and cared for.

I'm sorry that you feel that way. :uhoh21:

0 Votes
Specializes in Too many to list.

I am still marveling that we are seeing cases in July where I live. It's sweltering here, yet my hospital has had 3 swine flu related deaths this summer which the hospital has been careful not to relay to staff in their Swine Flu "updates".

Just last night I found out that we had the entire staff of one floor started on Tamiflu after one nurse there was infected on the job (also not in the flu updates to staff). Yet, a technician assigned to the infected patient on that same unit as a float was not offered Tamiflu because she was just floated to the unit. She got sick as did her husband and 3 children. They all had GI s/s which is a known presentation of this virus. This does not bode well for the fall.

One of the techs on my own unit is an expectant father. His wife is an RN at our hospital. She was assigned to take care of a suspected swine flu case last week. No one informed her that the CDC recommendations are that pregnant staff be reassigned, and if that is not possible then they should not be present for certain procedures such as nebulizer treatments, CPAP/BiPAP etc. There has been no information at all that would indicate that our hospital is aware of increased risks to pregnant staff. Surely they must be. But, not to tell the staff?

I have no faith that they are going to offer Tamiflu to anyone that should test negative via the unreliable rapid flu test if that is the criteria that they will use which would not surprise me. It's not so much of an issue if I am infected except that I won't be able to work, and each day off counts as a separate call out. It's not so much of an issue if I only have a mild case, but I do have asthma, and maybe it would be smart to take Tamiflu if I knew that I was exposed and felt sick even if my test came back negative. By now there are many cases of people who have died whose initials tests were negative but were found at autopsy to be positive. Most of the fatal cases in NYC were asthmatics.

Don't mind me. I'm just having my own little reaction to how my workplace is handling things. I have to say that I feel like a mushroom working there, and I don't like it...

0 Votes
Specializes in Psych, Med/Surg, LTC.

THAT sucks. :cry:

0 Votes
researchers are studying the virus, a form of influenza type a, subtype h1n1, as it spreads in the southern hemisphere, which is entering its annual flu season. chile and argentina have been hit particularly hard; chilean media reported last week that thousands of surgeries were postponed to free beds for swine flu cases. the swine flu is the predominant virus spreading in australia.

things are now heating up in the southern hemisphere, with an increase in swine flu deaths in argentina and elsewhere in south america. we will be approaching the start of the next flu season in north america in just a few weeks.

now would be a good time to review and reflect on how you, as a hcw, will approach your job as the pandemic ramps up this fall. there is no right or wrong answer, the answer is different for everyone. plan ahead before you are forced to make a hurried decision. not having a plan is a failure for yourself, your family, and your patients.

0 Votes
THAT sucks. :cry:

Everyone, please be extra careful now... and send positive, healing thoughts to all your co-workers and patients...

0 Votes
Specializes in Too many to list.

A big part of the equasion for me, is based on my perception of how good a job my hospital is doing to protect staff.

But, Laidback Al is right. I am rethinking my own plans based on what I am reading. At least I have a plan.

I feel for those nurses down in Argentina that are in their winter season right now, and dealing with more cases than we are.

https://allnurses.com/pandemic-flu-forum/10-swine-flu-408912.html#post3754311

0 Votes
Specializes in MPCU.

Let's see. This thread was about a hypothetical pandemic. One that is impossible in exaggeration of extremes. How having one extreme, such as no ppe's and still having the government require skilled nursing is just one of the ways that the scenario is at best ludicrous.

Then linking this to a real world pandemic. Stretching that to somehow make the original post plausible. Well O.K. Still, why not discuss a possible worst case scenario? Why is it so important to exaggerate an already serious situation?

Notice that still fully two-thirds of the people polled, will work during a ludicrously exaggerated worst case pandemic. If you want to link it to the real world pandemic, I think you'll notice that 98% of us are working.

I really wonder why fear mongering is so important.

I guess having an opinion of my own and the ability to differentiate between reality and fiction, makes my post off topic?

0 Votes
+ Add a Comment