Media a bit too invasive of nurse's personal info following her catching Ebola?

Nurses COVID

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Am I the only one who feels very uncomfortable reading this article about the Texan nurse who caught Ebola on the job? Or is this ethically ok because of the availability of information these days?

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/who-nina-pham-meet-nurse-who-contracted-ebola-n224726

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I hate the implication that she had her CCRN only two months before caring for the ebola patient, does that really matter??? A nurse does not have to have the CCRN to care for a highly infectious disease, but to accuse her in this manner is ridiculous and just shows how little the media understands about nursing. So much for the anonoymous family friend. Total invasion of privacy.

A nurse does not need a CCRN to care for critically ill patients . . . . It's a nice thing to do, particularly in this day and age when jobs are more difficult to come by. But in 38 years, I never bothered to get a CCRN, and neither did many of my contemporaries. Back in the day it was expensive to get and to maintain and I had more urgent needs for that money. Now, I think I've proven my worth as a critical care nurse.

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Specializes in Urology, ENT.

What bothers me about the release of her information is that now, if she survives (which I hope), everyone or anyone who has been paying attention, will know her as the "Ebola Nurse." What with how "educated" our public is, future patients would be wary of her. I read here that supposedly ebola survivors become immune to whatever strain of ebola they were infected with, but the theory hasn't been tested. This medscape article corroborates the possibility of immunity.

As for Duncan's information -- I never got who released that. Was it family/friends? I don't think his information should've been released -- who would've wanted to be known as the guy who brought ebola into the country?

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Don't you have to have a certain number of hours/years of Critical Care experience BEFORE obtaining CCRN, just as you do for other specialty certs? It wouldn't really be that distinguished if any ol' Joe Blow RN Grad could sit for it, eh?

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yall should watch CNN in the morning and how they make the nurse out to be a fool.

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There's another thread (two, actually, I think) that discusses whether we as healthcare workers would be willing to take on an Ebola patient, whether we'd go over there or take care of them over here. There was QUITE a list of people who had no problems whatsoever with caring for an Ebola patient; the general consensus among them was "it's just like any other ID situation, as long as you have and use the proper PPE, what's the big deal?".

There were a goodly number who felt that since proper PPE contains the problem and prohibits the transmission between the patient and the worker....what's the problem?

I'd say we're staring directly in the face of that problem. "Unknown breach of protocol" might simply mean that there WAS no "breach of protocol" and that it IS easier to spread than we thought. That it IS easier to become infected than we thought. And that NO PPE that your hospital provides is going to cut it. Just my own two cents, as someone who put out there (on that thread) that it wouldn't be ME going anywhere near that ward, let alone that room, when the first Ebola patient arrived in the US for treatment.

If members of AN believe (and it appears they do, from responses to this thread) that the nurse in question was a victim of circumstance and NOT incompetence, then we probably need to re-think our view on this contagion (and it's ease of transmission) in the first place.

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I read that article. It was basically an account of someone online stalking her Facebook and pinterest, google mapping her parents address and then googling what CCRN is. Ridiculous.

To be clear, I do not agree with the outing of the nurse and the way she has been treated in the media, but I have never understood this notion of "Facebook stalking".

How is it stalking to read personal information on the Internet that the person has willfully and intentionally put on there?

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Don't blame the journalist -- blame the "close personal friend" who gave him all that personal information. And the "news organization" that published it.

But yes, I think there's a lot too much information revealed about this nurse, and too much blame affixed directly on her.

Also this nurse's uncle was speaking on CNN about her, as you said.....don't blame the media.

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If members of AN believe (and it appears they do, from responses to this thread) that the nurse in question was a victim of circumstance and NOT incompetence, then we probably need to re-think our view on this contagion (and it's ease of transmission) in the first place.

Members of AN "believe" all kinds of stuff, and that has nothing to do with whether those beliefs are valid or not. Check out the many anti-vaccination threads here ...

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As for Duncan's information -- I never got who released that. Was it family/friends? I don't think his information should've been released -- who would've wanted to be known as the guy who brought ebola into the country?

Media and family members.

Duncan's nephew has handed over Duncan's medical record to the Associated Press

Family of Thomas Eric Duncan says his death from Ebola is ‘racially motivated’ | WGN-TV

The family of Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to die of Ebola on U.S. soil, joined the Rev. Jesse Jackson at his Rainbow Push headquarters to call foul on the treatment Mr. Duncan received.

They say the treatment Duncan received was at best 'incompetent' and at worst 'racially motivated.'

Exclusive: Ebola didn't have to kill Thomas Eric Duncan, nephew says | Dallas Morning News

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Members of AN "believe" all kinds of stuff, and that has nothing to do with whether those beliefs are valid or not. Check out the many anti-vaccination threads here ...

Good point on erroneous beliefs in general. BUT, to reiterate, if there is reason to believe the nurse did NOT act incompetently, if there WAS no "breach of protocol", it IS valid to investigate further as to how she DID contract it.

I doubt you'd suggest it was her incompetence and lack of understanding of IC measures that caused her to contract it....? So, therefore......we need (CDC needs!) to look at this situation more closely because we need to know exactly HOW she got it.

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Members of AN "believe" all kinds of stuff, and that has nothing to do with whether those beliefs are valid or not. Check out the many anti-vaccination threads here ...

Ooh, I went back and did an edit, and I see that the edit somehow didn't post. I meant to add that I'm not saying I'm sure that those concerns (about Ebola transmission) aren't valid, just that the fact that a bunch of AN members believe something isn't, by itself, proof of anything. :)

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Ooh, I went back and did an edit, and I see that the edit somehow didn't post. I meant to add that I'm not saying I'm sure that those concerns (about Ebola transmission) aren't valid, just that the fact that a bunch of AN members believe something isn't, by itself, proof of anything. :)

That is essentially what it is. A large portion of this site does contain views I would find to be questionable. Yet I believe that anyone should be able to see what has transpired in the situation regarding Nurse Pham.

Have you had a chance to view this yet?

Texas nurses: 'There were no protocols' about Ebola - CNN.com

It's exactly what I imagined it to be.

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