Survey Update......Survey is now closed. Please go to Survey Results to see the response from the allnurses community.
Once again, it is a nurse who has taken the Ebola media spotlight this week. Kaci Hickox, a nurse who cared for Ebola patients in Sierra Leone found herself quarantined against her will in New Jersey upon her return to the US, in spite of the fact that she tested negative for the virus. After a 3 day isolation in less than desirable accommodations, she was transported home where she was supposed to remain under home quarantine but is now declaring that the quarantine is unnecessary and counterproductive, and is openly defying the order by going out in public.
Additional breaches in voluntary quarantine from those returning from Ebola-plagued Africa occurred when NBC medical correspondent, Dr. Nancy Snyderman in New Jersey and Dr. Craig Spencer in New York left their homes and ventured out into public spaces.
On Monday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) called for voluntary home quarantine for workers with the highest risk for Ebola infection. It also specified that most medical personnel returning from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea would not need to be kept in isolation.
In spite of this, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, mandated a 21-day mandatory quarantine policy for all healthcare workers exposed to Ebola. Although this move has received much criticism, it did get the support of Dr. Bruce Beutler, an American doctor and researcher and Nobel Prize winner for Medicine and Physiology for his work researching the the body’s overall immune system. He is currently the Director of the Center for the Genetics of Host Defense at the University of Texas Southwestern Center in Dallas. He favors Christie’s quarantine policy “because it’s not entirely clear that they can’t transmit the disease,” referring to asymptomatic healthcare workers like Kaci Hickox.
New York and Illinois have also have followed suit and mandated mandatory 21-day home quarantine policies. Although there is plenty of scientific evidence indicating there’s very little chance that a random person will contract Ebola unless they touch bodily fluids of an infected person, the thought is that the authorities need to do something to calm Americans’ fears. As Mike Osterholm, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota, says, "You want to try to eliminate not just real risk, but perceived risk."
There are thoughts on both sides of this issue which has led to heated discussions at times. There are concerns about the potential impact with both pathways of re-entry requirements for Ebola healthcare workers. What are your thoughts about this? Please take our survey to share your opinions. Let your voice be heard.
I'm good with the CDC policy. I'm betting we never would have heard of Kaci if the NJ governor hadn't imprisoned her, which is not CDC policy, and arguably not within the purview of State Health authority (have to be known infectious).
I love people who say she was "imprisoned". Seeing as how you feel her conditions were so horrible in NJ, would you please educate me on her 5-star accommodations she was privilege to in Sierra?
Also, would you allow your children near her without any reserve? Would you allow her into your home without reserve?
"I'm good with the CDC policy. I'm betting we never would have heard of Kaci if the NJ governor hadn't imprisoned her, which is not CDC policy, and arguably not within the purview of State Health authority (have to be known infectious)."
I love people who say she was "imprisoned". Seeing as how you feel her conditions were so horrible in NJ, would you please educate me on her 5-star accommodations she was privilege to in Sierra?
Also, would you allow your children near her without any reserve? Would you allow her into your home without reserve?
She was detained against her will. The living conditions of that detainment are irrelevant to the point that she was unnecessarily detained against her will.
Absolutely. She can come live with me and my family. I would have no concerns provided she remained afebrile.
Remember you are speaking about a person. A young woman, a nurse, who put her own life on hold, put her health at risk, and traveled to "ground zero" to use her expertise and training to help people in desperate need, and to help eradicate this virus and protect even us back here in the 1st world. You should respect and admire her not speak about her or treat her like a prisoner. Perhaps ask yourself what you have done for society?
I'm grateful for the chance to have a conversation about this with other nurses. I've been a nurse for 31+ years and the single most compelling lesson I learned in all those years is that things are not always as they seem and consequently, better safe than sorry. I don't think a 21 day self-quarantine is too much to ask considering the "sorry" part of this equation but I am open to debate other than "she doesn't have Ebola". She may have an undetectable viral load today but tomorrow isn't known. I suspect Kaci believes she is doing the right thing and I admire her service to humanity but none of us is infallible. It has been reported that Dr. Spencer initially failed to disclose his movements about the city to health authorities and instead claimed he self-quarantined in his apartment. True or not, patients misinform. We know that. When dealing with deadly viruses, misinformation could be disastrous.
"I'm good with the CDC policy. I'm betting we never would have heard of Kaci if the NJ governor hadn't imprisoned her, which is not CDC policy, and arguably not within the purview of State Health authority (have to be known infectious)."
I love people who say she was "imprisoned". Seeing as how you feel her conditions were so horrible in NJ, would you please educate me on her 5-star accommodations she was privilege to in Sierra?
Also, would you allow your children near her without any reserve? Would you allow her into your home without reserve?
Yes, I would allow her into my home with me and my family. You either believe in scientific evidence or you don't.
I'm grateful for the chance to have a conversation about this with other nurses. I've been a nurse for 31+ years and the single most compelling lesson I learned in all those years is that things are not always as they seem and consequently, better safe than sorry. I don't think a 21 day self-quarantine is too much to ask considering the "sorry" part of this equation but I am open to debate other than "she doesn't have Ebola". She may have an undetectable viral load today but tomorrow isn't known. I suspect Kaci believes she is doing the right thing and I admire her service to humanity but none of us is infallible. It has been reported that Dr. Spencer initially failed to disclose his movements about the city to health authorities and instead claimed he self-quarantined in his apartment. True or not, patients misinform. We know that. When dealing with deadly viruses, misinformation could be disastrous.
Then why not quarantine all ebola caretakers, and not just the ones returning from Africa?
Why are stigmatizing a subset of ebola caretakers not based on scientific evidence, but based out of fear and political ambitions.?
"I'm good with the CDC policy. I'm betting we never would have heard of Kaci if the NJ governor hadn't imprisoned her, which is not CDC policy, and arguably not within the purview of State Health authority (have to be known infectious)."
I love people who say she was "imprisoned". Seeing as how you feel her conditions were so horrible in NJ, would you please educate me on her 5-star accommodations she was privilege to in Sierra?
Also, would you allow your children near her without any reserve? Would you allow her into your home without reserve?
IDK where you live but I live in NY and I assume weather conditions are similar in NJ. If you want to live outdoors in a tent without heat (when it's been in the 40s and 50s with rain) and no running water, be my guest.
She could live with me as long as she was asymptomatic. Do you realize you could sit in a room surrounded by Ebola positive people and not catch Ebola as long as they are asymptomatic?
The worst thing I've seen written about her was some gentleman who said she should be shot and her body burned and someone actually liked it. I hope she'll be ok. People are paranoid and crazy.
While I know that the risk of infection is slight, the general public that lives off 24 hr sensationalized news bites does not. I can empathize with her plight, but I don't agree with her blatant disregard of the quarantine policy. What happens when Joe Schmo comes into contact with ebola and ignores a quarantine mandate after being recognized as being at risk? Joe Schmo isn't a health care worker and doesn't realize he's happily spreading a nasty bug every time he sneezes in public...after all that nurse ignores her quarantine and nothing bad happened!
On a more cynical note...a bunch of us were discussing this at work yesterday since it was all over the news. The general consensus was Kaci is angling for a book deal or a Lifetime movie of the week deal. We all pretty much figure her nursing career is toast after this.
Then why not quarantine all ebola caretakers, and not just the ones returning from Africa?
Why are stigmatizing a subset of ebola caretakers not based on scientific evidence, but based out of fear and political ambitions.?
And while we're at it why don't we quarantine any person who has contact with someone infected with influenza including the nurses and others who take care of them. Especially given the fact that they are contagious before they are symptomatic and the flu kills far more people than Ebola ever will. Also I think if you are VRE and MRSA positive you should be quarantined. Your family too. Oh, and maybe your neighbors as well "just to be safe". Hell, let's just put everyone in quarantine. It's the only way we'll be safe.
This is a slippery slope my friends. A very slippery slope.
I don't think a 21 day self-quarantine is too much to ask considering the "sorry" part of this equation but I am open to debate other than "she doesn't have Ebola".
You don't think 21 days of quarantine for no legitimate reason is too much to ask or anyone? Let alone someone who traveled across the globe to help cure this illness and save thousands of lives to return home and be treated like a prisoner by those people that don't understand the disease and are preaching "better safe than sorry" because they lack the courage to face a minute fraction of a risk at home that she risked going to help.
This in turn restricts more people from going to help which increases the risk of spread as well as at the cost of many lives. If we ever have a true Ebola pandemic here in this country it's because we didn't send enough people there to cure it.
Worry more about your flu shots. I will call out anyone I see here that is posting about Ebola and also posts about choosing not to vaccinate.
She is being selfish and self righteous! Let's not forget that upon her second assessment at the airport she had a temp of 101F. With a 21 day incubation period it is not unreasonable to quarantine some one for that amount if time. If you do the research, there's still some mystery about the transmission of Ebola. Why put everyone at risk ? Given the state of this country's economy, is it reasonable to utilize precious resources to continually track down people she may have come in contact with? What a daunting task and it seems to me to be nearly impossible to locate everyone when she is out roaming in public areas. Yes I do believe she's giving Nursing a bad reputation.
I think that Kaci is a brave nurse to speak out as she has. By doing what she is doing she is teaching the proper infection control practices for this disease. Before the first Ebola patient here is the US these brave nurses and doctors came back and followed procedure to take temps which is what Doctors Without Boarders recommends, and there was no problem but I think this has been forgotten. We as nurses need to do some teaching including the facts the the chance of an epidemic here are small because the cultures are different and sanitary facilities. We also need to teach handwashing, droplet precautions as these will help to prevent exposure to the flu as well. Right now the largest danger we face is from the flu not Ebola.
ohiobobcat
887 Posts
This!!! It's not like she's the first volunteer to come back to the U.S. after working with patients with Ebola.
I saw she went for a bike ride. I hope people aren't worried that she licked a tree or something (and yes that's sarcasm).