Are American hospitals ready for Ebola?

Nurses COVID

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I retired from a major trauma hospital in 2009 and even then I knew they weren't going to be able to handle a large epidemic of any kind. Most ICU's only have 1 or 2 negativepressure isolation units.I also don't trust the CDC especially after their most recent mishaps of sending out supposedly deactivated anthrax and "finding" still live samples of smallpox forgotten in a storage room. I also find it disturbing that after the reports coming out now about the 1st US case of ebola I am finding little discussion on other nursing boards about this. We should be scared, we all know how administrators water down things,that's their job.Also patients lie,the CDC doesn't really know how many people this man came in contact with,also I believe he knew he was infected and fled Liberia before he couldn't hide his symptoms anymore.We all knew we were only one air flight from a pandemic ,well the plane has landed and from one reply on this board apparently Houston has a large population of Nigerian immigrants. This man will not be the last one, there are clouds on the horizon.In a lot of hospitals infection control is a joke, put that with understaffing and cost cutting. We need to start communicating with each other. Start looking at your own hospitals infection control policies, are they being followed.Start asking questions that could save your life,look at the numbers of health care workers in Africa that have already died doing their job.This is a health care emergency, you might say don't panic, well if panic involves having hospitals actually doing and enforcing their own infections control policies well then let the PANIC begin.Emergency rooms are going to start being overwhelmed by anybody that has a temp or upset stomach. I guess we will all know in about 21 DAYS.(mark your calendar)

Specializes in Critical Care.
I think he absolutely knew he was infected. He lied to get out of the country. Where would you want to be treated? I would chose a hospital in USA versus somewhere in a third world country with resources already stretched past the breaking point.

He may not have known he was infected, but lied at the airport so he must have suspected he was at risk of Ebola. I find it odd that CDC claims a person isn't infectious till symptoms appear. Aren't most viruses contageous even before symptoms appear? It doesn't make sense to me. Why would this virulent virus be different, where even saliva and sweat is infectious?

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Specializes in Critical Care.
My major hospital system sent out this email a few days back. It appears as though they are trying their best to be equipped should the virus present itself. I deleted the hospital and state name for anonymity.

_________ Hospital, and other large referral hospitals in _________, have been developing an Ebola preparedness plan for more than two months. This planning has taken place in consultation with the __________ Department of Health and the CDC. We are prepared to isolate persons who may have exposure, test for Ebola, and provide care. We are confident if we had a patient with Ebola that we could provide care safely.

Are they going to offer space suits because I don't think the typical isolation gown would protect us from Ebola. It doesn't even fully cover the body and I wouldn't trust it to be waterproof!

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Specializes in Critical Care.
Well...

The short answer is no. We are not prepared. And I'm of the opinion that the primary reason for this lies in various cost cutting measures administration have found to be popular in years past. However the attention this is getting through various news channels is actually encouraging. There will be scrambling, and perhaps the bean counters might come to the conclusion that it's less expensive overall to ensure we have the proper resources.

Being an ED worker nearly all of my career insofar, I cringe at what is sure to be the onslaught of common cold and flu patients into the department. This most certainly has a high possibility of getting ugly.

Call me cynical, but I just can't see hospitals shelling out for hazmat suits for a just in case Ebola patient. But I think they should since it is so lethal!

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Specializes in Critical Care.
Since Ebola is not airborne, why would you need negative pressure rooms? It is spread similarly to HIV and because it is only contagious when the person is sick, you know they have it, unlike HIV? I think we the precautions we have in place, we can handle it.

They say it's not airborne, although there is already one airborne varient and what is to stop it from mutating. If we are using hazmat suits why wouldn't we use negative pressure rooms. The hospitals should pull out all the stops to protect their staff and other patients!

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Specializes in Critical Care.
The irony with this is that the company developing the med to treat had shipped all to Africa so there was none for him.

But the poor pregnant woman was turned away from several hospitals and then died so he wouldn't be able to be cared for in a hospital either if he was sick and they don't have enough beds or staff. So he would have stayed home and probably died without any medical care!

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Specializes in ER.
You honestly believe this individual knew he was infected with Ebola ... for certain Ebola. And lied to leave Liberia. And then allowed himself to be discharged with a diagnosis of a viral illness. And then went back? ...

If he were really seeking medical treatment in the US for a better survival rate, don't you think he would have essentially told health care personnel he had Ebola?[/quote

You are assuming a lot about this guy. You assume he had some logic

In his thinking, or even intelligence. He knowingly left his country, lying about his exposure. If he makes it, I hope an example is made of him (in the u.s., as well as Liberia, which is what will already hapoen) for exposing this and not quarantining himself in Liberia.

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Specializes in geriatrics.

That's another dilemma: is the current PPE enough to adequately protect us? I've always been skeptical.

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Specializes in Inpatient Oncology/Public Health.
That's another dilemma: is the current PPE enough to adequately protect us? I've always been skeptical.

The story I saw blamed it on the nurse touching her face with a glove. I think either a wash down needs to happen before removing the suit, a 2nd person needs to assist or the suits need to be redesigned. Can you really imagine she wouldn't be careful? I would treat it like defusing a bomb. And they've euthanized her dog too.

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Your link leads to a login page for Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. It is not able to be read unfortunately due to having to be logged onto their system:

NOTICE!

The information on this service and network is the property of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and is protected by all applicable intellectual and property rights.

In order to utilize this service, you must be assigned an account on the RWJUH network and specifically granted access to this service. Information is only accessible as defined by the system administrators. The Helpdesk cannot change passwords over the phone.

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Specializes in Rehab, Med/Surg.

Was any info ever released on which flights numbers he took? Just wondering about all those people that were on the same planes...

And is that experimental drug they gave him the same one being given in Africa?

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So why didn't he just come out and say, "I'm from Africa and I've been exposed to Ebola there?" That's what I don't understand. It had to have been in the back of his mind that it was probably Ebola when he started to get sick. There were things he wasn't upfront about from the beginning.

Maybe it has to do with the fact that he knew that if he had said that, then he would also be admitting that he broke the law and deliberately exposed hundreds of people for personal gain.

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