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?

[zahryia, LPN]

Nope. Will not do it. This is one of the biggest reasons why I refused to apply for that public health officer position that the government has.

As an officer you get excellent benefits until there's a pandemic or natural disaster. No thank you.

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

This is a huge benefit of being a school nurse. At the first hint of an outbreak, schools will shut down (some in my area already have), so I won't have to come to work!

But, if I did work in a hospital, I would work as long as there was adequate PPE (no masks, no work), and as long as I was not needed to care for a sick loved one. Family comes first, no matter what.

[Multicollinearity, BSN, RN]

Yesterday in clinical one of my classmates said that if a big pandemic hits, nurses without children should work 7 days a week to staff the hospitals, and nurses with children should be excused from working. She said this looking at me, knowing I don't have children. I had to control myself to not say something vulgar.

[MAISY, RN-ER, BSN, RN]

After seeing yesterday's chaos from the public and nursing homes. Hell no!

People are like frightened rabbits....geez, educate yourselves before reacting!

If Swine Flu is any minimal prelude, good luck to us all!

M

[Medic2RN, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

Yesterday in clinical one of my classmates said that if a big pandemic hits, nurses without children should work 7 days a week to staff the hospitals, and nurses with children should be excused from working. She said this looking at me, knowing I don't have children. I had to control myself to not say something vulgar.

OMG....seriously? You should have said something!!

[Multicollinearity, BSN, RN]

OMG....seriously? You should have said something!!

I've about had it with this classmate, and all I had was an F-bomb running through my head. So I settled for giving her my look.

[MAISY, RN-ER, BSN, RN]

Yesterday in clinical one of my classmates said that if a big pandemic hits, nurses without children should work 7 days a week to staff the hospitals, and nurses with children should be excused from working. She said this looking at me, knowing I don't have children. I had to control myself to not say something vulgar.

No offense to student nurses, but until you truly work one crazy shift you shouldn't ever comment on people working 7 days a week. That would be the quickest way to losing your experienced nursing staff, due to exhaustion then illness as they were left vulnerable to exposure through that same exhaustion. Then who would look after those who were left behind?

Yesterday my ER was a zoo and I barely made it home after 14 hours! I fell asleep sitting up with my dinner in my lap, no breaks, no lunch....basically no time for anything all day! I know the general public has no idea how hard we work, but a student should have at least a glimmer....to suggest such a thing is mind boggling! To suggest that as a parent he/she is more important than anyone else is the epitome of mind boggling! She/he should win the award for this month's "Clueless RN"!

M

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

multicollinearity

That was the dumbest suggestion on so many levels, it didn't merit much of a response. It's surprising she finds her way to school every day.

[Girl Scout]

Try not to worry so much girlscout. We all know that a possible pandemic can be serious. The CDC also says this swine flu virus could diminish or escalate. They do not know yet. If it does escalate, you could take your mom with you to the "home" where your grandmother and father are. If your father runs the place, maybe you and your mom could help out your dad. If it diminishes all the worry was for nothing. Live, laugh, love today. Don't worry so much about tomorrow, things may be much better who knows? Stress and worry can have very negative effects on your body, then you might not be strong enough to help when needed, be strong. It is obvious you love them and respect your parents. They are wise girlscout follow their lead. Someday, you may have to lead. Take care!:redpinkhe

Thank you for a moment of clarity which I really needed. I am normally very calm about disaster, puddles of guts, spiders crawling up my arm, etc. But this is a new feeling for me. This is kind of giving me pause and I can feel my nerves starting to pluck like piano wires deep down.

However, I can't even let myself fall victim to utter panic; I'm just not wired that way. I have always been wired to be proactive and calm, and as everything around me gets more stressful, I'm more galvanized to set up the goals and knock 'em down. I'm just not good at feeling helpless. I guess I'm getting a tiny taste of that now. I will adapt, though, I'm sure.

Yes, I would be happy to see this not escalate. I'm not sure that this is what will happen, though. I'm preparing and planning accordingly at home. I think I'll call my mother and talk to her about this.

And like everyone is saying, when they run out of PPE, I don't know what I can do or what I'd want to do. I want to stay healthy and away from the danger like everyone else.

[astn]

I was recently told (but can't cite) that 36,000 people died of the flu in the U.S. last year. I don't think that the swine flu should be ignored--it's a serious problem that needs to be examined. I just think it should be put into perspective.

I also remember that the news media needs something to report on, and if they can't find something they tend to exaggerate the importance of things to make them newsworthy. SARS was a problem, was a potential pandemic, and wasn't. Some day, we might get hit with another 'black death,' but I don't think it's today.

To answer the question posed, of course, yes, I would work during a pandemic. Your role in society is to do a job, which is why you are trained and paid appropriately. If you opt out of the job just because it's going to be a rough day, I don't think I'd feel I would deserve to be in that job on a good day.

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

There is a difference between opting out because it is going to be a "rough day", and opting out because there are not enough supplies to maintain safety. If you are saying that nurses who refuse to sacrifice their life and bodies do not deserve to be nurses, well then there are very very few that would meet your criteria. I think it was Florence Nightengale whose quote begins "the martyr sacrifices themselves entirely in vain..."

[MAISY, RN-ER, BSN, RN]

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=91695010559&h=wObZU&u=17zAO&ref=nf

This link was posted by a coworker with Congressman Ron Paul speaking about the flu epidemic under President Ford,

1 person died of flu, 25 died of the vaccine and thousands more got sick from the vaccine. OVERREACTION ON THE PART OF THE GOVERNMENT!

Anyway, while it is an unpleasant fact of life that some people die when outbreaks occur, government regulation of treatment can be a dangerous thing!

Sometimes in our quest to do good....good is not always the outcome.

M