Disaster/Pandemic preparedness

[LMonty911]

I was looking the the other Disaster/Pandemic thread that Florida1 started. She mentioned that after the hurricanes, that they had problems getting basic supplies and food stores were often closed for weeks after the storm.

That concerns me. I wonder in case of disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes and pandemics if the nurses who work in the area have problems like that. I'd be worried about leaving my family if there was no heat or electric. After loosing electric in the ice storms in the Carolinas a few years back, my husband bought us a generator. I try to keep enough gas stored so that I could run that and maybe have an extra tank of gas for getting back and forth to work, if things were shut down. I never want to wait in the cold on those gas lines again; or have to risk driving around to find necessities!

What disasters have you been through? What lessons did you learn about what things would make life easier if it happens again to you? What can we learn from your experience, and how can we prepare for so we dont have to go through th esame problems you did?

Where there any sepcial tricks or issues that came up that helped you at work? Any special problems that nurses in disasters face?

I have a confession- my home first aid kit is pretty anemic right now :) DH burned his hand prety badly at work last week. I hadnt checked my kit in awhile, and was shocked to see how low I was on some stuff. I only had one roll banfage and had to make a run to WallyWorld the next day! If the stores were shut or the roads iced in or otherwise impassible that would have been an issue. Maybe not life threatening- but its a small example of how not being well prepared can be a problem.

I'd have been so embarrased to admit to hubby I couldnt take care of it, or come thru when he needed me to.

What do you do to prepare? I'm going to restock my kit, and get some more OTC stuff to keep on hand too. What else should I be thinking about?

Laura

[indigo girl]

UK: Researchers Plan `Big Brother' Flu Experiment

http://afludiary.blogspot.com/2008/11/uk-researchers-plan-big-brother-flu.html

How does flu spread? There is still some conjecture about this.

This experiment is designed to watch a select group of people 24 hour/

day to find out exactly how they infect each other, what works

to prevent it, and what does not. This is very basic and important

research that will be worth far more than the cost of the experiment,

and should have far reaching application world wide.

The aim is to gather information on how and how easily they contract

flu from each other and the effectiveness of hand washing, face masks

and keeping their distance to prevent infection.

Jonathan Van-Tam, professor of health protection at the University of

Nottingham, who is helping develop the trials, said the studies reflected

how much remains unknown about flu transmission, nearly two centuries

after medical journals began discussing the issue.

"Transmission is poorly understood and hotly debated," he said.

Disagreement remained on such as whether flu was contracted by

airborne particles or via surfaces touched by hand.

[indigo girl]

Pregnancy and Pandemic Influenza

http://afludiary.blogspot.com/2008/12/pregnancy-and-pandemic-influenza.html

Today the UK government announced that they had obtained enough of

the antiviral drug Relenza to treat all pregnant woman in a `reasonable

worst-case' pandemic situation, which they believe would not affect more

than 50% of the population.

Less well known than its competitor Tamiflu, Relenza is an inhaled

powder and is thought less likely to cross the placenta and adversely

affect the fetus

Pregnancy is considered to be a significant risk factor during an

influenza pandemic. Researchers know that during the 1918

pandemic an abnormally high number of pregnant women died from

the influenza, and those that survived endured a very high miscarriage

rate.

Pregnant women also appear to be more susceptible to influenza

than non-pregnant women, although the exact reasons for this

aren't understood.

It is believed, however, that the normal protections of a woman's

immune system are temporarily altered to allow her to carry what is

essentially a foreign body- a fetus - without rejection.

[indigo girl]

Update on Personal Protective Equipment

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showpost.php?p=197523&postcount=1

I was fitted for the N95 mask last April during my orientation. I have

not seen one since.

This essay analyzing two different studies does not bode well for those

of us that do not work regularly with the N95 respirators. Being able to

achieve a good seal with my mask is rather important to me as I will

probably be working during a pandemic since I'm not a young nurse

with children at home to be concerned about.

Participants were then recalled at 3 and 14 months after the initial

exercises, and significant failure rates were observed at both intervals,

suggesting the need for continued use of the masks for competency in

deployment. This is supported by the finding that the skills of nurses on

a respiratory ward, where airborne isolation precautions are more

common, were not severely compromised over time.1

In their discussion of the study, the authors note that 48% of HCWs will

be sufficiently protected with the deployment of 8210 respirators,

without training, and that instruction alone will increase the rate to

74.4%.

[indigo girl]

I did not open this thread though I have maintained it. I will no longer be posting here but the information will be continued at

this link:

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/pandemic-awareness-preparation-361932.html