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?

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

If I was healthy enough to, I would, but I'm not. So I'd stay put where I usually am.

[Laidback Al]

If I was healthy enough to, I would, but I'm not. So I'd stay put where I usually am.

You, and many others like you, could still be an invaluable asset once a pandemic starts. Don't let all of that experience and knowledge go to waste. At FluTrackers there has been some discussion about how people that are home caring for the sick during the pandemic can get advice and direction. If the internet and telephone systems stay up there will be many opportunities for you and others to provide health care guidance and assistance to people who will desperately need it. Long distance communication is not as effective as face-to-face communication, but it will spare you from the threat of direct infection.

[indigo girl]

Prophylactic Antivirals For Health Care Workers

Commentary on two documents released by HHS last week follow.

Can you believe that they are recommending 12 weeks worth of

antivirals for us? Would our employers really do this?

It is the right thing to do, but seriously, there isn't enough Tamiflu

available. Read the link to see where most of the Tamiflu is going to be

used.

http://afludiary.blogspot.com/2008/06/prophylactic-antivirals-for-health-care.html

...the most striking change is the recommendation that private sector

employers consider stockpiling prophylactic antiviral medications, particularly

if their employees will be at high risk of exposure.

That means Hospitals, EMS units, Fire Departments, and Law Enforcement

Agencies, among others.

Outbreak prophylaxis of front-line healthcare and emergency services

workers (fire, law enforcement, and emergency medical services [EMS])

is recommended because of their important role in providing critical

healthcare services, preserving health and safety in communities, the lack of

surge capacity in these sectors and the importance of reducing absenteeism

when demands for services are likely to be increased.

A strong recommendation that hospitals and emergency services provide

12 weeks of prophylactic antivirals to all employees who will have

direct exposure to infected patients.

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

And if they DID give us Tamiflu, would it work for the bird flu?

Some say that it doesn't.

[indigo girl]

True, some strains have been Tamifu resistant, and the victims died.

[indigo girl]

PROPHYLACTIC USE OF TAMIFLU BAD IDEA, LEADING VIROLOGIST SAYS

Forget the prophylactic Tamiflu seems to be the message from this article

in Homeland Security Today. It's better to take Tamiflu 6 hours or

so after symptom onset, and hope it works.

http://hstoday.us/content/view/3741/150/

The US government's new proposal to use drugs like Tamiflu and Relenza as

a prophylaxis to prevent infection by a pandemic strain of influenza is

wrongheaded, says Dr. Graeme Laver, a former professor of biochemistry

and molecular biology at the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the

Australian National University in Canberra.

Laver, who played a key role in the development of both drugs, has been

studying influenza viruses for nearly 40 years. He and Dr. Robert Webster

(another world-renowned virologist at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital)

are credited with having first found the link between human flu and bird flu.

... it is "much better to use Tamiflu only for early treatment. If people

with flu symptoms take Tamiflu immediately, say within six or so hours after

symptom onset, the infection should be rapidly terminated, the person

should recover, and then, and this is important, should then be immune to

reinfection for the rest of the pandemic. Much better than any vaccine.

This has been called 'Aborted-infection Immunization,' and to use Tamiflu in

this way would allow many health care workers and so on to go about their

business without fear of reinfection."

(hat tip croftsblog)

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

This is exactly why I don't trust the DHS to have it together when it hits the fan.

[SCDOHJohnRN]

The cited atricles do bring on confusion. 12 weels of anivirals or early symptom Rx w/ Tamiflu? And hope it works! Don't we always "hope" an immunization will work. Since most viruses have many mutations and varients there never is a guarantee. I would still go to work because as it has been pointed out hospitals are understaffed currently. If the majority of nurses stayed home that would only make the situation worse. Stating home and watching my family die would be worse than trying to help those already infected. The only way to stop a pandemic is to contain it! If the hospitals had meds, equipment & staff to do that, a pandemic or worse could be prevented!! If H5N1 ever comes to the US people WILL die. How many depends on how many step up in the crisis!!

[northshore08]

I didn't have long to Google but found this quite quickly:

Ihttp://www.sibs.ac.cn/sars/file/wenxian/05.pdf

Talaxandra, thank you for a very interesting article. The picture said a lot for me. Truthfully, I think at first when we didn't realize it was a pandemic, it would be work as usual. By the time PPE supplies/antivirals shortages would enter the picture, we would already be too involved to back out easily (e.g., the article's reference to staff being quarantined with the pts.) Now if I was coming in after being out for a while, I might not go; but I would have to be willing to give up the job.

Hmmm..this thread is definitely more food for thought.

[Batman24]

I'd stay home with my family.

[mystcnurse, MSN, APRN, NP]

Some of them got something really special. I think a murder charge, actually. The question really is, do you trust the GOVERNMENT to protect you? And why would you care about your paycheck, if there was a very good chance that you would never see your family alive again.

[akesia]

Yes, I would report. I work in a critical access hospital in a rural community. We have a pandemic drill every year during the flu season and incorporate flu and pneumonia vaccinations for staff at the same time. As a nurse if feel obligated to respond to this situation after all the person I am able to help may be a love one of mine.....or yours.