Was watching "Downton Abbey" Sunday night and it got to where the great Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1919 hit.
Program seemed to get much of the details down right; healthy young persons were fine one minute, greatly ill the next and often dead within 24-48 hours.
From one's own (limited) research on the matter found out that many nurses and other medical persons came down with and subsequently died from being exposed to the flu whilst caring for patients. Of course many knew they shouldn't have been anywhere near such sick persons but "duty" kept nurses on the wards and in the cases of public health nursing going from house to house caring for the stricken.
With almost one hundred years of hindsight and modern adances in medical care one would think if such a thing hit again things would be different. However one does wonder if a bulk of nurses today have the "self sacrificing" gene.
Say this because clearly remember what things were like during the 1980's when AIDS began to appear. Was working as a CNA and often it wasn't the most shining hour for some nursing staff. Indeed on more than several occasions it came down to threats of being written up for insubordination to get some nurses anywhere near afflicted patients.
If there was a major outbreak of unknown or serious disease such as another major flu outbreak would *you* go in? If the hospital was going on lock-down for the duration would you stay or bolt for the door before it's locked?
So everyone who is performing a job duty which is both important to public safety and also puts their lives at risk is NOT professional and IS stupid?
Nuclear power plant workers
Firemen
Police
Electrical power line installers
Medical waste management
and A MILLION other careers!
What we choose to put our faith in are the safety measures in place to protect us.. and which work quite reliably I believe
But, all those professions (including nursing) takes CALCULATED risks. Police officers do not go into a hostage situation without bullet proof vests and their weapon. Firemen do not go into buildings that are already starting to collapse. Do you think in an armageddon scenerio that the policemen would still be trying to maintain order once the ammo runs out? Nope, they are going to grab their fam and head for the hills. In the event of a true deadly pandemic, I will do the same.
Cutting us slack because we want to spend holidays with a family? I gave up being with a dying family member to report to work and care for someone else's dying family member. I sacrifice EVERYTHING for my job, but the one thing I will NOT sacrifice is my life. Sorry.
A girl I know who has been an RN for a long time and used to work in the Philippines said that they had a few sets of their own gloves and every morning would blow them up to check for holes. If it came down to that, I don't think it's a disaster to re-use gloves
Ps - every year that my PPD has come back negative has surprised me LOL
But, all those professions (including nursing) takes CALCULATED risks. Police officers do not go into a hostage situation without bullet proof vests and their weapon. Firemen do not go into buildings that are already starting to collapse. Do you think in an armageddon scenerio that the policemen would still be trying to maintain order once the ammo runs out? Nope, they are going to grab their fam and head for the hills. In the event of a true deadly pandemic, I will do the same.
I'm going to have to disagree with your scenario here - remembering all the police and firefighters running INTO the Twin Towers as others were running out.
As for nursing in an epidemic, if I'm needed I'll be there.
I'm going to have to disagree with your scenario here - remembering all the police and firefighters running INTO the Twin Towers as others were running out.
As for nursing in an epidemic, if I'm needed I'll be there.
Yes, but there is always a point where they pull back. Once it is obvious that certain death awaits, everyone pulls back. There may always be a few hero/martyrs who defy the orders, but it is in no one's job description to face certain death.
As long as it's not zombies, I'd probably go to work.
Seriously, I work in a crazy busy ER. We don't have enough iso rooms so it's not unusual to keep our iso patients in plastic tents that I don't really trust. I also live in a very big city. If there was an epidemic, I'd probably be exposed before they realized something was going on. I would protect my family by not going home. I don't see it as self-sacrificing but a small risk of the area I work in.
Our area was hit particularly hard by the early stages of the H1N1 outbreak a few years ago. At one point, we were overflowing with H1N1+ patients on vents. Our youngest patient was an early-twenties male, and the oldest were 50-somethings.
It hit so hard and so fast that we just went to work and dealt with it. It was an eerie sight to see everyone walking around in space suits...
Honestly I didn't give it much thought other than protecting myself to the best of my ability and doing what I had to do.
A few died with multi-organ failure. A couple of them left with irreversible pulmonary compromise. I never did hear what happened to the pregnant mom we had to ship out.
I'm going to have to disagree with your scenario here - remembering all the police and firefighters running INTO the Twin Towers as others were running out.
As for nursing in an epidemic, if I'm needed I'll be there.
They did NOT know that the building was going to come down. Don't you remember them contemplating a lawsuit because the towers fell? No one thought it was going to collapse and as soon as the first tower fell they ordered the evacuation of the 2nd tower.
If they had known the tower was going to collapse in an hour they wouldn't have sent them inside, and they most certainly wouldn't have set up their rescue effort on the bottom floor inside the building.
They did NOT know that the building was going to come down. Don't you remember them contemplating a lawsuit because the towers fell? No one thought it was going to collapse and as soon as the first tower fell they ordered the evacuation of the 2nd tower.
If they had known the tower was going to collapse in an hour they wouldn't have sent them inside, and they most certainly wouldn't have set up their rescue effort on the bottom floor inside the building.
As a native NYC resident of Manhattan who is the child of a NYFD member and was *home* on 9/11/01 am here to tell you that in the period after that event New York City took a deep long look at the responses of various emergency services including NYFD. As a result many changes in policies and proceedures have been made with respect to hindsight.
End result is that among other things you will not see another mass rush of NYFD or other personnel into that sort of situation (building) again. Nor will NYFD members be allowed to simply "show up" on site and get involved. Far too many brave and wonderful men lost their lives that day (including a great lad who lived right across the road from us), for no apparent reason. Well ok, there was a reason; they saw the situation and considered it their duty to act, but again such things require a unified response with a clear chain of command.
Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN
1 Article; 1,978 Posts
But, all those professions (including nursing) takes CALCULATED risks. Police officers do not go into a hostage situation without bullet proof vests and their weapon. Firemen do not go into buildings that are already starting to collapse. Do you think in an armageddon scenerio that the policemen would still be trying to maintain order once the ammo runs out? Nope, they are going to grab their fam and head for the hills. In the event of a true deadly pandemic, I will do the same.