Ebola in Texas

Nurses COVID

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

Thankfully, it didn't just pop up there. It was someone who had recently been to parts of Africa where it is much more widespread (not that I'm glad it's in Africa either).

I read 'The Hot Zone' about 20 years ago, and while the thought of bleeding to death from every orifice including my eyeballs sounds most unpleasant, I don't foresee it becoming a huge epidemic here. If I ever get Ebola (or any number of other horrific diseases), I want a morphine drip cranked all the way up. Let me go before I go into DIC.

This situation does, however, make the point that rapid global travel makes all of us targets for any number of microbes that aren't afraid of us.

Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.

Ebola outbreak: Kids exposed to 1st U.S. case being monitored - CBS News

Dr. Mark Lester confirmed Wednesday that a nurse asked Duncan on his first visit whether he had been in an area affected by the Ebola outbreak that has killed thousands in West Africa, but that "information was not fully communicated throughout the whole team."

A nine-member group of federal health officials was tracking anyone who had close contact with the man.

The team from the Centers for Disease Control is in Dallas to work with local and state health agencies to ensure that those people are watched every day for 21 days.

I think we an handle this...

Specializes in ER.

Let's hope. I, for one, know how the front lines in the ER operate. There is no such travel screening going on in triage, with the exception of a few nurses. Many people in small town America are unaware, despite being in an area with heavy west African immigration. No discussion at work is going on whatsoever that is being disseminated down to the front lines. Management is mum on the topic. I think what has happened in this Er in Texas will be the norm.

It is typical that doctors do not read triage notes fully. They disregard pertinent information in order to rapidly dispo patients. That is the reality. Of course they will point to the nurse, at least indirectly, that "the information was not communicated" to the team. BS. That doctor is responsible for their h&p, period.

I have my strategy, to take care of me, knowing this exact scenario is what I can likely face. It's sad when this isn't on the mind of all as a universal precaution.

I think the "fall guy" will be the nurse as well but I also have to say that my first thought when reading that the man stated he had been in "Liberia" recently might not have meant much to some folks. People are not savvy about geography nowadays.

I think this incident will cause hospitals to pay attention.

(I had a parent complain to me a few days ago about the Enterovirus D68 and how it was "taking over all 48 states" and causing "polio". There is a lot of hysteria out there about medical stuff lately).

:facepalm:

Specializes in L & D; Postpartum.

There is a patient in isolation for observation in Honolulu now.

Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

I wish I could say that I trust our public health system to contain this, but I don't.

In a city where healthcare workers recently attended training on recognizing possible Ebola cases, it is disconcerting that an individual who told ER staff that he recently came from Liberia and had flu-like symptoms was sent home with antibiotics. Have we not been educated extensively for the last few decades that antibiotics are inappropriate for suspected viral illnesses? Good Lord, if this is the caliber of our front-line emergency healthcare providers, do we really believe that our system is prepared to contain a newly introduced, deadly illness?

What we need is old fashioned public health measures, both abroad and here. We need to export human resources, materials and knowledge to areas of the world suffering this crisis. We need to close our borders (temporarily) to travelers from affected areas until we can get our own house in order. We need to educate the public on what symptoms to watch for and how to access healthcare in a manner that does not expose their neighbors to illness. We then need to require reporting of contacts, enforce isolation and quarantine until an entire household is demonstrated to be disease-free. We may need to cancel public events and restrict gatherings.

Very little, if any of this will happen, because it is not politically correct to do so. Political correctness will win out over proven scientific methods. We have leaders who are more concerned with appearances than results, who will forsake public health in order to project "compassion" and prevent offending anyone. And we have a citizenry so dumbed down that they think that allowing potentially infected people to enter our country and communities IS more compassionate than requiring them to prove their health status first.

God help us.

Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

RN Survey Says Hospitals Fall Far Short in Emergency Planning as First Ebola Case Reported in the U.S.

In the wake of the first confirmed case of a patient in the U.S. who has been infected with the Ebola virus, the largest U.S. organization of nurses today warned that U.S. hospitals are far from ready for the Ebola outbreak, are sorely lacking in other disaster planning, and everyone needs to do more to stop Ebola.

Several weeks ago, National Nurses United (NNU) began surveying registered nurses across the U.S. about emergency preparedness. In preliminary results from more than 400 RNs in more than two dozen states released today:

* More than 60 percent of RNs say their hospital is not prepared for the Ebola virus.

* 80 percent say their hospital has not communicated to them any policy regarding potential admission of patients infected by Ebola

* 85 percent say their hospital has not provided education on Ebola

* 30 percent say their hospital has insufficient supplies of eye protection (face shields or side shields with goggles) and fluid resistant gowns

* 65 percent say their hospital fails to reduce the number of patients they must care for to accommodate caring for an "isolation" patient

Just last week, more than 1,000 U.S. RNs, joined by nurses and other health workers from around the world, held a die-in on the strip in Las Vegas to register their concern about inadequate preparation in U.S. hospitals, as well as calling for a significant escalation in global efforts to stop the Ebola outbreak in West Africa...

... "This potential exposure of patients and healthcare workers demonstrates the critical need for planning, preparedness and protection at the highest level in hospitals throughout the nation," says Bonnie Castillo, RN, director of NNU's Registered Nurse Response Network, which is coordinating the RN response.

"The clock is ticking. It is long past time to act," Castillo adds. Preparedness for disease outbreaks is a long standing problem, note the nurses, citing the death of a U.S. nurse in a California hospital infected during the H1N1 outbreak in 2009.

NNU is calling for:

* All U.S. hospitals to immediately implement a full emergency preparedness plan for Ebola, or other disease outbreaks. That includes full training of hospital personnel along with proper protocols and training materials for responding to outbreaks, adequate supplies of all personal protective equipment, properly equipped isolation rooms to assure patient, visitor and staff safety, and sufficient staffing to supplement nurses and other health workers who need to care for patients in isolation.

* Significant increases in provision of aid, financial, personnel, and protective equipment, from the U.S., other governments, and private corporate interests to the nations in West Africa directly affected to contain and stop the spread of Ebola.

* Proper funding of international disaster relief and global health agencies whose budgets have been cut as a result of austerity measures implemented by the wealthiest nations.

* Stepped up action on the climate crisis which has contributed to the spread of disease outbreaks. Scientific American in 2008 named Ebola, which is directly affected by drought-related deforestation, as one of a dozen epidemics likely to be spurred by climate change...

http://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/news/2014/10/rn-survey-says-hospitals-fall-far-short-in-emergency-planning-as-first-ebola-case-reported-in-the-us.aspx

After work today, I'll check at my local hospital with the infection control nurse to see what's happening there.

As to Honolulu, a story just broke that the patient doesn't have Ebola. When you get into the story though, it says they make that judgment based on symptoms and not a blood test.

I'm not a person who panics so don't go there. Just wondering why no test? Expense?

Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.

I agree that the RN who noted the recent travel from Liberia will be thrown under the bus. It will be deemed that it was her responsibility to gather the info, to document the info, and then to spoon feed the info to the medical provider.

I read an article today that indicates that the guy's companion/fiance is quarantined in their apartment with other family members where they have limited food and are living with his sweaty bed sheets and other contaminated/soiled articles. It is almost as if we are observing to see just how contagious it is and using them as guinea pigs.

Specializes in Critical Care.

We get a fair amount of people who travel abroad regularly coming through our ER. The triage nurses have been told specifically to flag anyone with recent travel to Western Africa. The only person flagged for travel to western Africa was someone who had recently been to Guyana, which makes you wonder if the would even know that a country someone had been to is in western Africa. This shows how our educational weaknesses might lead to actual harm. (Guyana is in South America, not in Africa).

We get a fair amount of people who travel abroad regularly coming through our ER. The triage nurses have been told specifically to flag anyone with recent travel to Western Africa. The only person flagged for travel to western Africa was someone who had recently been to Guyana, which makes you wonder if the would even know that a country someone had been to is in western Africa. This shows how our educational weaknesses might lead to actual harm. (Guyana is in South America, not in Africa).

Oh my gosh . . .I'm listening to NYU Docs on Sirius Radio . . Dr. Billy Goldberg, ER Doc and his colleague told a similar story. A patient stated he was from Africa and then was flagged but in further discussion, he said South Africa with a British accent.

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