Is it fair for the media to blame the RN in Texas for contracting Ebola?

Nurses COVID

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  1. Is it fair for the media to blame the RN in Texas for contracting Ebola?

    • 15
      Yes
    • 448
      No

463 members have participated

I am watching cnn outfront hosted by erin burnett. Throughout this program she has said the most offensive things about nurses that are outrageous. This journalist has no medical experience. Has never worked as a nurse. However, she is actively critizing somone as they fight for their life. This nurse made a huge sacrifice by caring for someone who had ebola. The head of the cdc blame the nurse, doctors are doing inteviews blame the nurse, people who have never worked in a medical setting blame the nurse. We as nurses need stand up and demand the truth be told.

I didn't answer the poll b/c there wasn't an option for "too soon to tell." There are a lot of conflicting reports and I'm not ready to condemn anyone -the nurses, medical staff, hospital administrators or CDC. When all the facts are in they can be objectively evaluated. Until then, it's suppoition and hysteria.

I understand and respect your opinion. I agree we do need the facts, but I am sorry to inform you Erin Bruneett did blame the rn.The head of the cdc did blame the r.n , and people conducting interviews on various news organization are blaming. They are not looking at the system. They are looking for a scapegoat. We need to to be honest and work together as a team to come up with a viable solution.

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Specializes in School Nursing.

I think IF IT'S TRUE that the nurse had an elevated temp (99.5), she should have known better (I don't care what the CDC told her) than to get on that plane. Come on, elevated temp is the first symptom.

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Specializes in Emergency.

We've been practicing with our gear (full OR impermeable gowns, boots, gloves, bonnet, hood/shield with helmet fan) and it's fairly obvious how easy it is to contaminate yourself when doffing.

Scary.

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How are you supposed to protect yourself? From what I'm reading, they want the staff to double glove and wear the water proof gowns provided. If these gowns are like the ones from my facility, they leave your legs exposed from knees down and are split in the back. They also do not cover the neck. Why are we expected to wear these while all others are wearing hazmat suits? There should have been a specialized team with specialized PPE flown in STAT when he was diagnosed.

I heard they are changing the protocol again.

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Multiple news outlets are reporting that the second nurse called the CDC multiple times and was told that she was okay to fly even with a low-grade fever.

The temperature was 99.4.

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Specializes in LTC Rehab Med/Surg.

WE ARE NURSES. Nobody should have to tell us what a temp of 99.? means, following the kind of exposure those Texas nurses experienced. People in Cleveland are now saying she not only had a temp, but was sick enough to cancel activities.

We are outraged when we're not treated with the respect we deserve as health care professionals, but we want to excuse a gross lapse in nursing judgement.

She called the CDC because she wanted somebody to tell her it was ok, when she knew it wasn't.

I'm so sorry this young woman has found herself in such an awful place.

I'm sorry her lapse in judgement has made her a national figure. I'm sorry her need to see her family superceded the safety of everybody else around her.

But she was a nurse, and should have known better.

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Specializes in ICU, APHERESIS, IV THERAPY, ONCOLOGY, BC.

I have suspected that the "breach in protocol" may end up being a breach in the protocol the CDC recommends or that Emory used (e.g. space suits) vs the actual protocol that the Texas hospital had their staff use. The nurses involved may not have removed PPE incorrectly, they may not have had the correct PPE. This is purely speculation on my part, but we don't know the entire story and maybe never will.

As a staff nurse, you can only use what your facility supplies as far as PPE. Walmart doesn't sell space suits--yet. Most of us trust that when dealing with something as potentially lethal as Ebola, our employer will take the necessary measures to protect us. What we don't know can hurt us.

Excellent point. Moot point, since Ebola only just arrived in the US, How do CDC know that the recommended gear will function efficiently in such a highly conatagious case. some questions to consider

1. Where were these suits monitored or tested under such extraordinary infectious conditions

2. Are the gloves adequate- everyone knows that protective material can wear down after continuous contact. Do better quality gloves need to be supplied

3. What were the construction of the masks or resp. protection. Feces emits odour and viral spores, increasing as the patient becomes more infectious and circulates within the room each time a patient has diarrhea. Bleeding is also involved thus increasing risks esepcially if blood droplets dry and are released into the room

4. Have these masks been tested in highly conatagious environments and what is their half life of efficacy.

5. Instead of quoting a quasi protocol, CDC and epidemiologists need to re examine the above and bear in mind that the longer a nurse is in a patient`s room, the more likely risk of infection. If no facts are known about the shelf life and protective qualities under these circumstances then that is where the focus should lie, not on the nursing staff

Just a few thoughts......

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WE ARE NURSES. Nobody should have to tell us what a temp of 99.? means, following the kind of exposure those Texas nurses experienced. People in Cleveland are now saying she not only had a temp, but was sick enough to cancel activities.

We are outraged when we're not treated with the respect we deserve as health care professionals, but we want to excuse a gross lapse in nursing judgement.

She called the CDC because she wanted somebody to tell her it was ok, when she knew it wasn't.

I'm so sorry this young woman has found herself in such an awful place.

I'm sorry her lapse in judgement has made her a national figure. I'm sorry her need to see her family superceded the safety of everybody else around her.

But she was a nurse, and should have known better.

ITA. She was already in the group that was being monitored for 21 days post-exposure. She is (presumably) a licensed RN; why on earth would she even need to ask anyone if would be okay for her to fly (using public transportation)?? Why wouldn't she recognize all by her little ol' self that that would be a reeeeeellly bad idea??

I really hope none of her family members get sick, or anyone from the plane ...

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Regardless of which news channel/network/source is favored by anybody, why do we (as a society) insist upon believing that which any of the media throws at us as being anything more than opinion?

We can choose to agree or disagree with those opinions, but trusting today's news media is taking a big chance at being deceived.

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

Texas hospital 'deeply sorry' for Ebola mistakes, plans to transfer infected nurse Nina Pham to Maryland

The Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital nurse contracted the virus while treating Thomas Eric Duncan. She is in good condition at the Dallas hospital, but will be transferred to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Meanwhile, Texas officials apologized for sending Duncan home two days before isolating him.

The Texas hospital that sent a contagious Ebola patient home is saying sorry-and transferring its only current patient to a Maryland facility.

Dallas' Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital admitted it did not handle its first Ebola case correctly: Two of its staffers who treated "patient zero" were infected with the virus, setting off national panic of possible uncontained exposure.

"Despite our best intentions and a highly skilled medical team, we made mistakes," Dr. Daniel Varga, the chief clinical officer for Texas Health Services, said in a Wednesday night statement.

Shortly after the apology, the hospital arranged to transfer nurse Nina Pham, who was diagnosed with the virus Sunday, to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland...

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/texas-hospital-deeply-ebola-mistakes-article-1.1976195

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The bottom line is we need to close the borders and stop flying into and out of West Africa! Period! If that was the case then these two nurses wouldn't be fighting for their life! But political and economic BS is more important than the health and safety of American healthcare workers. I feel this is just a giant experiment with us as the lab rats!

Why is no one speaking up about closing the borders! I haven't heard anyone mention this the most obvious way to prevent Ebola from spreading!

Congress is now now discussing is and actively question the cdc, nih, and various health agency.

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I am now watching congress question the the cdc, nih, and various U.S health agencies .It is amazing how the head of the medical agencies could barely answer any of theses question now . However, they where so quick to blame the nurses's for contracting ebola.

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