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

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.

Specializes in Hematology/Oncology.
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.

WTB Space suit

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She was never told not to travel. And I don't think she was one of the persons that they were monitoring.

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She was never told not to travel. And I don't think she was one of the persons that they were monitoring.

She was one of the people monitored AND she did call the CDC who told her to get on the plane.

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She was one of the people monitored AND she did call the CDC who told her to get on the plane.

And some 'spokesperson' will likely get on TV and accuse her of "breaching protocol" (whatever that means).

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Specializes in NICU.
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!

That would result in civil war and rampant spread of ebola because it would run completely unchecked and unstoppable. That's just about the worst thing we could do...

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That would result in civil war and rampant spread of ebola because it would run completely unchecked and unstoppable. That's just about the worst thing we could do...

What? The worst thing to do is shut down the border or stop flights from Africa? You know what happens if Dallas is overrun with pandemic chaos of Ebola similar to some of the cities in Africa? They would quarantine the CITY. Yes. Quarantine the city. Yet the politicians and airlines refuse to prevent flights from Africa which averages about 100 people per day with quarantine. Quarantine is one of the most effective and cost effective tools that we have and you know why? Because, once it breaks into full pandemic the MATH will win and no amount of money or military might will matter. It is serious and deserves action TODAY while still "contained" not next week when Dallas might have 100 cases and what... 1000 "to be monitored".

And why would preventing flights to/from Africa or sealing our borders cause civil war anyway?

Regards,

LW

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

Federal officials reviewing nurses' Ebola complaints against Texas Health Presbyterian

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is reviewing a nurses union's allegations of improper procedures and "constantly changing" safety guidelines against the Dallas hospital where two nurses contracted Ebola while caring for a patient.

Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital's mishandling of the treatment for the first Ebola patient diagnosed with the virus in the United States exposes serious gaps in the country's preparedness for treating patients with the deadly virus, according to a statement by National Nurses United.

Daniel Varga, chief clinical officer for the hospital's parent company, Texas Health Resources, in a news conference Wednesday morning defended the hospital's ability to contain Ebola and protect its workers...

... "I don't think we have a systematic institutional problem," Varga said.

But David Wright, deputy regional administrator for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Dallas, said it was "closely evaluating and reviewing" the allegations made by National Nurses United on behalf of a group of nurses at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, according to the Wall Street Journal...

... The nurses worried that their necks and heads were exposed as they treated Duncan, who had explosive diarrhea and projectile vomiting, Burger said.

The nurses also allege that hazardous waste was allowed to pile up and that Duncan's lab samples were allowed to travel through the hospital's transport tubes, raising the possibility of contaminating the specimen delivery system...

http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2014/10/15/federal-officials-reviewing-nurses-ebola.html?page=all

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Specializes in Critical Care.
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.

I think they should lock the hospital down for Ebola. At least isolate the care givers of the Ebola patient and have them stay at the hospital or a hotel so they don't have to worry about endagering their family and pets and don't have to worry about having all their belongings destroyed if they test positive for Ebola. This is just so unfair!

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Specializes in NICU.

LoyalWeim, I suggest you read this: http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2014/10/04/how-ebola-sped-out-of-control/ and watch this: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/dr-fauci-us-should-absolutely-not-suspend-flights-and-ebola-stricken

tl;dr:

part of the reason why ebola spread in the first place is that Liberia has a weak government structure from its past two civil wars and it is still recovering from that. If you refuse people in or out of Liberia, that would create panic, an ideal ingredient for civil unrest.

What happens during civil wars? People flee their homes. Disease spreads. Disease has no borders. Not to mention that the epidemic would worsen because of no health care supplies if no one was allowed in or out.

You're right that quarantine would be a better option for the US if roles were reversed, but only because we have a stable government in a wealthy country. If we didn't allow people to fly out of the US if roles were reversed, the amount and type of panic is nowhere near what it would be like in West Africa, and it wouldn't breed civil unrest to the tune of war.

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Specializes in NICU.
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.

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.

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Specializes in Critical Care.
That would result in civil war and rampant spread of ebola because it would run completely unchecked and unstoppable. That's just about the worst thing we could do...

I don't see how closing the borders would cause civil war. I think leaving the borders open will tempt anyone exposed to an Ebola patient to take a flight to the US or Europe hoping for better care if they have Ebola too which will leave more healthcare workers at risk of contracting it as well as we are not trained or have adequate protective equipment to safely care for these people, aside from the 4 specially trained hospitals in the nation.

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Specializes in FNP, ONP.

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.

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