Ebola in Texas

Nurses COVID

Published

Specializes in Hospice.

Sooo ... Isn't this where the private sector is supposed to be leaping into the breach and saving us all - and for cheaper than the Feds, too. And still turning a handsome profit, thank you very much. So far, private enterprise's performance has been pretty pitiful, too.

Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
Sooo ... Isn't this where the private sector is supposed to be leaping into the breach and saving us all - and for cheaper than the Feds, too. And still turning a handsome profit, thank you very much. So far, private enterprise's performance has been pretty pitiful, too.

To date I think for profit pharmaceuticals had tabled further activity on the development of the vaccine related to costs and reimbursements. They are not public health entities.

Specializes in Hospice.

Ah - so they're waiting for the gubmint to do it. Hmm ...makers and takers ... I see ...

So what's stopping these captains of the healthcare industry from preparing their own facilities for possible exposure? Hint: online on services don't count. Or is gubmint responsible for that, too?

Sorry, but the whole "get rid of big government" thing seems to disappear when expensive badness happens. Everyone seems A-OK with it then ... Especially when we start in with our political Press-Gainey reviews. Good times!

Specializes in Hospice.

Found this today:These Rules Can Protect Doctors and Nurses From Ebola—If They're Followed | Mother Jones

More than 200 nurses rallied outside the National Nurses Union headquarters in Oakland, California, on Tuesday, demanding more stringent protections from Ebola for healthcare workers.

...While there was plenty of talk at the rally about the need to implement the recently issued recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control, no one mentioned the federal rules concerning Ebola that are already on the books—and how they could be better publicized and enforced.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has longstandingregulations on protecting workers from infectious diseases, including Ebola. Introduced in 1986, OSHA's Bloodborne Pathogen Standard is intended to keep healthcare workers from contracting HIV as well as Hepatitis C, malaria, syphilis, and viral hemorrhagic fevers (like Ebola). The standard requires hospitals to provide and require the use of protective equipment such as masks and face shields to ensure that "blood or other potentially infectious materials" do not touch workers' clothes, skin, face, or mucous membranes.

Julianne Sum, the acting chief of Cal/OSHA, California's occupational safety division, says these rules exceed the recommendations currently being demanded by the nurses' union. "What was in place and what is still in place now are regulations," Sum says. "The Bloodborne Pathogens Standard has been in place for over 30 years around the whole country."

...When hospitals are inspected, close to 75 percent are found to have violated the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard. It is the most common citation received by employers in the health care industry. "When you don't inspect places, compliance becomes lax because nobody is concerned about it," Steinzor explains.

...A statement from the NNU details numerous alleged breaches of protocol during his stay at Texas Presbyterian Hospital. "Nurses had to interact with Mr. Duncan with whatever protective equipment was available, at a time when he had copious amounts of diarrhea and vomiting which produces a lot of contagious fluids," it states. If that's accurate, Texas Presbyterian was in violation of OSHA rules.

Bolded italics added by me.

Standards for the control of blood-borne pathogens have been in place for 30 years ... as near as we can tell, 75% of hospital corporations have chosen to ignore those standards.

The small government crowd has been happily gutting OSHA for pretty much the same thirty years, leading to reduced inspections and lax enforcement of the already anemic penalties for violations. All the while whining about big government interference and regulations strangling business.

So, tell me again why healthcare workers are at risk because of government incompetence?

To a prog, ANYTHING that makes government bigger and more powerful is GOOD.

ESPECIALLY if it involves confiscating MORE of someone ELSE'S money.

Specializes in PACU, ED.
To date I think for profit pharmaceuticals had tabled further activity on the development of the vaccine related to costs and reimbursements. They are not public health entities.

Do you have a source for this? The last I heard was vaccines were starting human trials. From this article it sounds like they're moving full speed ahead. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/drugmakers-bet-ebola-vaccines-treatments-133126127--finance.html;_ylt=A86.J7.nvE1U5wkAx00PxQt.

Specializes in PACU, ED.

They are aiming for millions of doses of vaccine by next year.

Ebola: Millions of doses of vaccines planned by 2015 - CNN.com

Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

......

Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
Do you have a source for this? The last I heard was vaccines were starting human trials. From this article it sounds like they're moving full speed ahead. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/drugmakers-bet-ebola-vaccines-treatments-133126127--finance.html;_ylt=A86.J7.nvE1U5wkAx00PxQt.

Costs have delayed Ebola vaccine for years | Al Jazeera America

BGU Ebola researcher: Lack of developed world interest in Ebola delayed work on vaccine

He added that this is “an example of the failure of the system. We cannot blame drug companies, as it is the role of governments to ensure protection of the population against rare and deadly disease that the economics of the marketplace cannot sustain.”

There are as yet no drugs or vaccines proven to save people from Ebola, largely part because the infectious disease has been so uncommon in the last few decades that until now it has been hard to attract research funding. West African nations hardest hit by the epidemic are unlikely to be able to pay for vaccines and drugs, but rich Western countries may subsidize them, mostly to prevent the disease from spreading in developed countries.

Ebola vaccine tests needlessly delayed, researchers claim | Science/AAAS | News

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/24/health/without-lucrative-market-potential-ebola-vaccine-was-shelved-for-years.html?_r=0

Almost a decade ago, scientists from Canada and the United States reported that they had created a vaccine that was 100 percent effective in protecting monkeys against the Ebola virus. The results were published in a respected journal, and health officials called them exciting. The researchers said tests in people might start within two years, and a product could potentially be ready for licensing by 2010 or 2011.It never happened. The vaccine sat on a shelf. Only now is it undergoing the most basic safety tests in humans — with nearly 5,000 people dead from Ebola and an epidemic raging out of control in West Africa.

Yes, the development of ANY new treatment is incredibly expensive, and carries with it incredibly high legal and financial risks to the developer, should the developer miss something that later causes a problem for a small group of recipients, and those recipients hire an army of lawyers to sue the pants and everything else off the developer.

Couple that with very little chance of recouping the tremendous investment, and you have potential treatments and/or cures that languish on the shelf.

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

health.mil - Ebola

The 25-bed hospital in Monrovia should be fully operational in the first week of November once the construction of the supporting facilities is complete, Kirby noted. Upon completion, the hospital will be staffed by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services personnel. In addition, the construction of the first Ebola Treatment Unit at Tubmanburg, Liberia, is nearing final completion. The construction on the second ETU should finish around the beginning of November and a third soon after.

The troops’ mission is to build Ebola treatment units, Woodson said, not to directly treat Ebola victims.

“While they're in theater, we will be actively monitoring them every day,” he said. “We'll be taking their temperature twice a day, their supervisors will be asking them about any exposure history, and we'll be able, in real time, to monitor any exposures that might happen and monitor for any symptoms.”

One could rightly worry about inadvertent contact or a situation spawned by an emergency, Woodson said, so troops will have personal protective equipment and will be trained in how to don it and take it off. “They will be supervised, and … battle buddies will be watching out for these exposures,” he added. “I think we can minimize any chance of exposure or risk with that strategy.”

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

Sierra Leone doctor dies of Ebola at Nebraska hospital | Reuters

Why are frightened and ignorant people not ranting about quarantining all of the health workers who cared for this man?

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