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

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

    • 15
      Yes
    • 448
      No

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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.

AdamantiteEnigma,

Thanks for sharing the video... hmm. Very interesting!

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Specializes in RN, CHPN.
Clearly, something about this protocol is just plain wrong OR the nurses made serious protocol errors.

Yes, there was something wrong with the protocol ~

For the first few days, the nurses took care of Mr. Duncan using everyday universal precautions garb. Yellow gowns that weren't waterproof. Their heads and necks were uncovered, along with their lower legs and shoes.

And "when the nurses treating Duncan complained that their necks had not been covered by the gear, they were told to wrap their necks with medical tape, Burger told CNN.

"They were told to use medical tape and had to use four to five pieces of medical tape wound around their neck," she said. "The nurses have expressed a lot of concern about how difficult it is to remove the tape from their neck."

Hazardous waste also piled up while Duncan was being treated.

"There was no one to pick up hazardous waste as it piled to the ceiling," Burger told CNN. "They did not have access to proper supplies."

Nurses Union Head: 'No Protocols' at Dallas Hospital

In addition, they were assigned to take care of other ICU patients while caring for the Ebola patient.

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

You have ten minutes to register and listen live to a National Nurse's United Conference on Ebola and Hospital Preparedness.

https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/731/6167

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.
I don't recall the name of the nurse interviewed on MSNBC who said there are two levels of PPE. The one used by CDC and one typically used in hospitals. I use PPE in dialysis outpatient, but I don't think our PPE would stop Ebola. we are instructed to use out lab coats multiple times. I wonder if this was the case in the Texas hospital. Could be there is a problem with the type of PPE in use and the training or protocols used for PPE.

Bonnie Castillo RN Director of NNU's Registered Nurse Response Network discusses Ebola preparedness in U.S. hospitals.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

It is outrageous to blame the nurses and healthcare workers who put their life on the line to take care of Mr Duncan and were caring for him thru the most dangerous, contagious part of his life cleaning explosive diarrhea, vomit, and dialysis and intubation. Easy for those who sit back on the sideline to criticize the people doing the hard, dangerous and dirty work that they are conveniently removed from!

I'm shocked and disgusted that the CDC has the nerve to say EBOLA can be treated with just a gown, gloves, mask and goggles when it is a level 4 bio hazard where in the lab they have decontamination showers, UV lights, hazmat suits, respirators and here the healthcare workers doing even more dangerous work with flying body fluids contaminated with the virus, working with very little protections. Dr Gupta showed how easy it was to be contaminated when using a skimpy gown. Now the CDC is recommending a buddy system.

Also the workers had to take care of other patients as well as Mr Duncan. I think they should have only been assigned to him and then be on quarantine for the duration and thru the incubation period, but I'm sure this is more money than the hospital is willing to spend!

Seems much safer to use the 4 level 4 safety hospitals and then develop a few regional hospitals with the training and equipment necessary to handle this, not expect any and every hospital to be able to handle this. Now they are going to dispatch a CDC team whenever a hospital has an Ebola patient. Why didn't they do this already!

Really why aren't they closing the border and stopping air travel to and from West Africa till this is contained! That is the real question! If they had done this already these nurses wouldn't be hospitalized with Ebola now! How many more healthcare victims is it going to take for the govt to stop air travel with West Africa!

Now I hear that after they recover, they will have to start completely over as all their belongings are being destroyed in the hazmat containment of their homes! Why is this necessary especially since they both were admitted to the hospital with a fever before any vomiting or diarrhea? It just seems wrong! How can the CDC say this is so easy to treat with just a gown, gloves and mask and then turn around and throw away all the patient's belongings! I hope this is a misunderstanding because it seems like overkill. Has anyone else heard anything about this? If this is the case then healthcare workers should be kept at the hospital or in a hotel room so their home and family and pets are safe while caring for Ebola patients and thru the incubation period! Why should we have to sacrifice are very lives, family and homes for this! This is wrong!

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The president has claimed publicly REPEATEDLY how prepared we are as a nation for Ebola. Clearly, CLEARLY we are NOT. The CDC still has the nerve to say 'you can have complete confidence in the CDC'. HA! I think not.

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Here's a good news article that addresses the "blame game" issue... CDC head criticized for blaming nurse's Ebola infection on 'protocol breach' | Fox News

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Well, to what end? Should the nurse not go to a public place, school, etc? What about all the other nasty diseases that aren't forefront in the news right now? Should the nurses taking care of those pts avoid public places and airplanes too? We are taught that proper use of PPEs prevent catching and spreading disease. Clearly that's not the case here, but at the time she would have had no reason to think otherwise.

How about this plan:

1. Volunteer to receive specialized training for instituting and following CDC implemented protocol for Ebola victim care.

2. Have necessary equipment and on hand CDC specialist available for any/all complications/questions/concern for breach.

3. Take care of an ebola patient, then institute 21 day voluntary quarantine from the moment you stop caring for this patient. And be paid full salary/wage during quarantine. Additionally, be paid a significant bonus for making this sacrifice/contribution.

Yes, I believe this quarantine is necessary and I am appalled that it has not been implemented.

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Specializes in NICU.
Yes, you/we are taught one thing but what actually happens can be drastically different as in this particular case. Would you risk bringing Ebola home and infecting family members? I would not. My brother's wife is an RN and she says the same thing. She would do her job and treat the patient but she would not go home. She'd either stay at the hospital or get a hotel. EDIT: Yes, I know she would risk folks at the hotel... her words not mine! Point is she'd try to protect her family from exposure.

Clearly, something about this protocol is just plain wrong OR the nurses made serious protocol errors. Either way, I would seek to minimize my exposure to others and that includes self-banning myself from air travel until I knew that I am clear of this disease. I am not advocating that nurses live in a bubble, but this Ebola is in a completely different league and to risk over 100 peoples lives is either stupid or selfish... one or the other.

If this thing seriously grows teeth and turns pandemic, let's see how many agree with you then because now the CDC is seeking out the ~138 passengers on the plane that travelled with her.

Regards,

LW

I take it back, I guess the group of health care workers involved in his care were not supposed to fly commercially or take public transport. Appears she was irresppnsible.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/15/health/texas-ebola-nurses-union-claims/index.html?sr=sharebar_facebook

I am so glad this nurses organization has taken this to the media.

Part of the reason I have voluntarily not worked for 3 months is because of the awful management in nursing, it is EVERYWHERE and it's insane it takes EBOLA to finally bring the problems to light.

On another Ebola thread (there have been countless at this point!), I posted this response, so here it goes:

If anything, something had to happen to reveal how poorly hospitals are managed and how they treat nurses; in the midst of all things, how nursing can band together and reveal to the public how corporized (my word) hospitals have been and how they care about the bottom line will be their downfall.

I knew it was going to happen, but I surely didn't suspect that it would come from an infectious disease.

The CDC is not like the Feds or National Guard; they cannot come and commandeer a private company, so no, I don't blame them entirely; however, the hospital said they had it under control, when obviously they didn't, and when corporate is refusing to approve proper PPE or even allow the CDC in, then the ire should be on how MANY hospitals are run.

This is a HUGE opportunity for nurses to step up and speak out in how facilities are run and allow the public to scrutinize how hospitals are run roughshod over how the front lines-especially NURSES are treated and ignored, and not supported...it has been prepared to happen, unfortunately it had to happen this way. :no:

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Specializes in CRNA, Finally retired.
I take it back, I guess the group of health care workers involved in his care were not supposed to fly commercially or take public transport. Appears she was irresppnsible.

Liberia, of course, could never follow through their indictment of Duncan but I hope this second nurse survives without any sequelae because she also, should face charges. It's embarrassing to the profession as a whole that an RN chose to get on an airplane before the 21 day window. My local hospital's plan is to go on complete lockdown if a case comes in. No one in, no one out. I don't know the length of time since someone on the staff told me this as a favor. This is just September 11 all over again. Our government is the only organization large enough to impose the measures to protect us and once again, it's failing to protect us again through adamant stupidity. NO ONE in this country is an expert on ebola - they're all in Africa. Don't flame me - I'm a registered Democrat. But King Obama is not declaring another fiat to observe pandemic protocols.

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We've seen the wrong way to handle Ebola, in Texas. Nurses with their heads and necks uncovered, wearing flimsy gowns, etc. and now two of them infected.

Here's how the nurses at Emory protect themselves:

Nurses show how they prepare to treat Ebola patients

No nurse should have any less than this!

Thank you for posting this we need to learn.

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