Last night I read that the CDC is planning to transport at least one American Citizen with the ebola virus to Atlanta for treatment. Driving around today my car radio kept assaulting me with experts soothingly asserting that there is no reason for the American population to fear exposure to the virus. To a man they all went on to say that only healthcare workers were likely to be exposed.
If you're a healthcare worker raise your hand. Are you angry? Do you feel like you're being considered expendable? Less than fully human? Are you worried?
I don't favor deliberately bringing ANY known infected person across the ocean to this continent. OK, Ebola is not all that easy to contract. It's a lot harder to contract if it is thousands of miles away.
The virus is spread by contact with infected body fluids. So lets say a nurses aid in a hospital comes in contact with those body fluids (diarrhea, emesis, blood, whatever. Accidents happen even if you take precautions.) What is to stop her from spreading the virus to her husband or child? What is to stop a child infected in this way from spreading it within his classroom?
I have always been able to deal with the concept of ebola by reminding myself that it exists on another continent. Perhaps I'm being selfish, but I believe that anyone sickened in Africa should be treated in Africa. We don't need to help diseases spread around the globe any more than we already do.
NIMBY. In this case, NIMBY. I'm not a NIMBY kind of girl, but this terrifies me.
What do you think? What would you do if you were assigned a patient know to be infected with Ebola?
First of all, did you really expect our nursing educators to sit down give you a huge list of all the possible diseases you MIGHT be exposed to in your career as a nurse? Of course not, but if you thought realistically about what patient care entails surely you were aware that there's absolutely no way to predict what you might have to deal with. It's just a little naive to act surprised or angry, but I guess a lot of people are........
Secondly, ebola has about a 60% fatality rate. Which is still no joke, but don't say 100%, it's just not true.
Lastly, I'm one of "those" nurses who would be willing to treat a known ebola patient, given necessary quarantine, of course. Not because of some delusional martyrdom, but because I was realistic about what my job might entail when I went into nursing. It's 2014, there's no telling what we're all going to see in our lifetime, from EMP's (as discussed on another thread) to brand new, genetically engineered, ruthless diseases no one's ever even heard of. Hope for the best, be ready for the worst.
I'm not naive, and not surprirsed or angry. None of that applies. I never suggested that because nursing instructors don't "sit you down and give a huge list of what one might be exposed to" that the presence of such infectious diseases is a surprise. We're not "delusional" to think we wouldn't likely be exposed to Ebola!
I DID say that there are many in nursing who go INTO nursing with the expectation of doing nursing work (obviously) but not EVERY SINGLE POSSIBLE avenue of nursing. Many people become nurses who will never be directly exposed to any of it; some (like myself) WERE in an area of nursing where the exposure list was higher, and CHANGED career paths to avoid it (in part, not entirely, in my case).
Anyone can contract anything when out in public, of course. We can't knowingly avoid it all, but we CAN reasonably avoid the most obvious risk situations. I never went into nursing imagining myself alongside Mother Theresa in Calcutta. It was never a risk I "signed up for".
Not everyone who is a nurse accepts that they will simply suck it up and become exposed to heaven knows what. It doesn't make us naive, or uncompassionate. I means we have put a higher priority on our own health and our family's health than on a stranger among the general public.
I'm glad you will be there to step in, no doubt. I'm just openly and honestly admitting I won't be joining you in that room.
Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.
I would care for them. However, I am almost 52 and do not have kids. I think everyone has to decide for themselves and do what they think is best. Single mothers? I wouldn't want them being the ones providing the care. They have dependents.
I just want to make a comment about the nurses who are criticizing those who would refuse to treat someone with this disease. It's all fine and dandy to post on a public forum that YOU would do it with that smug sense of superiority that I can read between the lines of your posts. However, if and when the time comes and you actually are faced with the reality of this disease and having to take care of people who have it I wonder how many of you would actually live by your words that you've posted here. You can sit and say that there's no real health concern because it's not airborne and it's easy to puff yourself up and give a lecture on it to others because you feel nurses should be martyrs and treat everyone regardless of the situation. Their fears are real and I don't know why there is so much condescending superiority here.
It's all a moot point since we are all anonymous here and are unable to see who all these saintly people really are and if they would do what they say they would do.
Do you get that there are plenty of people here (the smug, superior ones) who have done this already? Back in the early days of HIV, it was a little-understood disease with, as far as anyone knew, 100% fatality and a horrible, gruesome death -- it just took longer than Ebola to kill you. Plenty of us stepped up and took care of those individuals, while watching some of our peers flatly refuse to do their jobs. I did it then, and I would do it again if it were my job.
I've been following the many recent threads on AN about the Ebola virus and I feel like my head's about to implode.
I completely understand the knee-jerk reaction of fear one experiences when considering the risk of being exposed to a very dangerous virus, of course I do. I share that fear.
What I don't understand is the borderline hysteria I've seen in some posts and what I definitely dislike is the attitude of "let them stay over there", "they went there and they knew the risk involved".
Regarding the hysteria, take a deep breath, slowly exhale and put on your scientifically trained nurse thinking caps. I think that we have a responsibility as nurses to only spread information that we know is factual and not spread rumors or engage in speculation.
I've found no scientific data that suggests airborne transmission in the current outbreak in West Africa. "What if it's mutated and become airborne" type of speculations isn't going to accomplish anything good, so please don't perpetuate this misconception/speculation. At this time I'd definitely say that mass panic has the potential to kill more human beings than the virus has. Which is the likely reason for the message "only healthcare workers will be exposed to Ebola" being presented. The message isn't a display of disregard for healthcare workers lives, but an attempt to avoid unfounded panic from spreading.
Regarding the "they/them/there" issue. This just really sets my teeth on edge. I could write pages about the reason this annoys me, but large parts of that would be off-topic so I won't. The very, very abridged version; we live in a global world, there's no escaping that. All human lives, regardless of nationality and location have equal value. We don't leave our people behind.
I don't regard this virus any differently than the dozens of other diseases I certainly don't wish to catch but run the risk of contracting at work. I understand that the mortality rate is very high, but my opinion stands. I'm reasonably convinced that I'd be a lot less apprehensive about caring for an Ebola patient in controlled environment/isolation with proper PPE then dealing with (which I have) bleeding, Hep C positive patients with impulse control and anger management issues in the ER.
Some professions involve a somewhat or in some cases significantly higher amount of risk than others. Professions like healthcare, law enforcement, fire/rescue and the armed forces to name a few. We know this.
Provided that we have the proper training for the task and have access to the proper personal protective equipmentI see no earthly reason why we shouldn't do our job.
It's got nothing to do with being a martyr. I'm not one.
I've been following the many recent threads on AN about the Ebola virus and I feel like my head's about to implode.
I completely understand the knee-jerk reaction of fear one experiences when considering the risk of being exposed to a very dangerous virus, of course I do. I share that fear.
What I don't understand is the borderline hysteria I've seen in some posts and what I definitely dislike is the attitude of "let them stay over there", "they went there and they knew the risk involved".
Regarding the hysteria, take a deep breath, slowly exhale and put on your scientifically trained nurse thinking caps. I think that we have a responsibility as nurses to only spread information that we know is factual and not spread rumors or engage in speculation.
I've found no scientific data that suggests airborne transmission in the current outbreak in West Africa. "What if it's mutated and become airborne" type of speculations isn't going to accomplish anything good, so please don't perpetuate this misconception/speculation. At this time I'd definitely say that mass panic has the potential to kill more human beings than the virus has. Which is the likely reason for the message "only healthcare workers will be exposed to Ebola" being presented. The message isn't a display of disregard for healthcare workers lives, but an attempt to avoid unfounded panic from spreading.
Regarding the "they/them/there" issue. This just really sets my teeth on edge. I could write pages about the reason this annoys me, but large parts of that would be off-topic so I won't. The very, very abridged version; we live in a global world, there's no escaping that. All human lives, regardless of nationality and location have equal value. We don't leave our people behind.
I don't regard this virus any differently than the dozens of other diseases I certainly don't wish to catch but run the risk of contracting at work. I understand that the mortality rate is very high, but my opinion stands. I'm reasonably convinced that I'd be a lot less apprehensive about caring for an Ebola patient in controlled environment/isolation with proper PPE then dealing with (which I have) bleeding, Hep C positive patients with impulse control and anger management issues in the ER.
Some professions involve a somewhat or in some cases significantly higher amount of risk than others. Professions like healthcare, law enforcement, fire/rescue and the armed forces to name a few. We know this.
Provided that we have the proper training for the task and have access to the proper personal protective equipmentI see no earthly reason why we shouldn't do our job.
It's got nothing to do with being a martyr. I'm not one.
What surprises me, is that unrealistic idea that people can run away from this.
If it shows up at your hospital, it is HERE. Not there. Your kids, your neighbors, your everyone is already in danger. You don't have to take care of a patient to get infected. It can happen before he/she is a patient. That patient most likely all ready infected someone else, and you might come in contact with that person. Or your love one might.
When you or your love one show up at the hospital, infected, then what? Would you feel ashamed or proud to show up asking for help, when you refused to help others for the same thing? Like I said, there really isn't any running. If it is here, it is here.
I am far from "hysterical" about this, but I do think it's really risky to knowingly bring such a virulent pathogen across international borders. I do not trust the press, I do not trust the government, and I certainly do not trust Samaritan's Purse- so all of the reassurances in the world don't really mean a whole lot to me.
And no, I am not a reactionary. I am a skeptic. I don't believe everything I see on TV, read on the internet, or hear on the radio.
I do not believe that cannabis cures cancer, that sea life off the West Coast of the US is dying from Fukushima radiation, or that contrails are really "chemtrails". I do think we landed on the moon.
But do I believe the reassurances that there is nothing to worry about by bringing Ebola to the US? Nope- and that nonbelief *is* based upon scientific thinking, thankyouverymuch.
IFLScience ususally comes up as I ******* love science. IFL in and of itself not offensive but if it showed up as what the letters stand for, some may be a bit offended.
Do you get that there are plenty of people here (the smug, superior ones) who have done this already? Back in the early days of HIV, it was a little-understood disease with, as far as anyone knew, 100% fatality and a horrible, gruesome death -- it just took longer than Ebola to kill you. Plenty of us stepped up and took care of those individuals, while watching some of our peers flatly refuse to do their jobs. I did it then, and I would do it again if it were my job.
Good for you. But don't chastise those who wouldn't do the same.
Which is all fine and dandy for you, but many travel insurance companies won't cover you if you fly to Nigeria and contract Ebola, because it's foreseeable. The workers in this case knowingly took a foreseeable risk. Totally different from going to Latin America and having a heart attack or going to Southeast Asia and being in a motor vehicle accident.
Apples and oranges.
Personally, I see no reason to defend your decision. I'm just loving all the smug anonymous martyrs here on AN passing judgement upon those who don't share their martyr syndrome. And anonymous is the key word, they can say they helped AIDS victims in the 80's and would do the same for ebola victims but we don't know if that really is the case since we have no clue as to who they are. It's just so easy to say stuff like that on a message board to make yourself look so important and selfless.
Personally, I see no reason to defend your decision. I'm just loving all the smug anonymous martyrs here on AN passing judgement upon those who don't share their martyr syndrome. And anonymous is the key word, they can say they helped AIDS victims in the 80's and would do the same for ebola victims but we don't know if that really is the case since we have no clue as to who they are. It's just so easy to say stuff like that on a message board to make yourself look so important and selfless.
I am always amazed at how much stuff has been done, to extreme degrees of expertise, by some folks. And that important and selfless thing?
I've been following the many recent threads on AN about the Ebola virus and I feel like my head's about to implode.
I completely understand the knee-jerk reaction of fear one experiences when considering the risk of being exposed to a very dangerous virus, of course I do. I share that fear.
What I don't understand is the borderline hysteria I've seen in some posts and what I definitely dislike is the attitude of "let them stay over there", "they went there and they knew the risk involved".
Regarding the hysteria, take a deep breath, slowly exhale and put on your scientifically trained nurse thinking caps. I think that we have a responsibility as nurses to only spread information that we know is factual and not spread rumors or engage in speculation.
I've found no scientific data that suggests airborne transmission in the current outbreak in West Africa. "What if it's mutated and become airborne" type of speculations isn't going to accomplish anything good, so please don't perpetuate this misconception/speculation. At this time I'd definitely say that mass panic has the potential to kill more human beings than the virus has. Which is the likely reason for the message "only healthcare workers will be exposed to Ebola" being presented. The message isn't a display of disregard for healthcare workers lives, but an attempt to avoid unfounded panic from spreading.
Regarding the "they/them/there" issue. This just really sets my teeth on edge. I could write pages about the reason this annoys me, but large parts of that would be off-topic so I won't. The very, very abridged version; we live in a global world, there's no escaping that. All human lives, regardless of nationality and location have equal value. We don't leave our people behind.
I don't regard this virus any differently than the dozens of other diseases I certainly don't wish to catch but run the risk of contracting at work. I understand that the mortality rate is very high, but my opinion stands. I'm reasonably convinced that I'd be a lot less apprehensive about caring for an Ebola patient in controlled environment/isolation with proper PPE then dealing with (which I have) bleeding, Hep C positive patients with impulse control and anger management issues in the ER.
Some professions involve a somewhat or in some cases significantly higher amount of risk than others. Professions like healthcare, law enforcement, fire/rescue and the armed forces to name a few. We know this.
Provided that we have the proper training for the task and have access to the proper personal protective equipmentI see no earthly reason why we shouldn't do our job.
It's got nothing to do with being a martyr. I'm not one.
I'm bothered by the whole "they knew the risks going over there" attitude as well. By that logic, anyone who gets into a car accident doesn't deserve treatment because "they knew the risks of driving a car" (statistically the biggest risk we take every day). Many (and arguably most) adult diseases can be attributed in some way to lifestyle choices- people choose to drink, smoke, eat fatty foods, drive, fly in airplanes. Everything we do involves risk. Most nurses wouldn't have jobs if they refused to care for patients whose illness can somehow be attributed to a risk they knowingly took at one point in their life. I'd still be gainfully employed, however, as pediatric illness is rarely attributable to something the child did or didn't do.
These infected individuals are US citizens and I'm glad they are here.
RNsRWe, ASN, RN
3 Articles; 10,428 Posts
I'm not naive, and not surprirsed or angry. None of that applies. I never suggested that because nursing instructors don't "sit you down and give a huge list of what one might be exposed to" that the presence of such infectious diseases is a surprise. We're not "delusional" to think we wouldn't likely be exposed to Ebola!
I DID say that there are many in nursing who go INTO nursing with the expectation of doing nursing work (obviously) but not EVERY SINGLE POSSIBLE avenue of nursing. Many people become nurses who will never be directly exposed to any of it; some (like myself) WERE in an area of nursing where the exposure list was higher, and CHANGED career paths to avoid it (in part, not entirely, in my case).
Anyone can contract anything when out in public, of course. We can't knowingly avoid it all, but we CAN reasonably avoid the most obvious risk situations. I never went into nursing imagining myself alongside Mother Theresa in Calcutta. It was never a risk I "signed up for".
Not everyone who is a nurse accepts that they will simply suck it up and become exposed to heaven knows what. It doesn't make us naive, or uncompassionate. I means we have put a higher priority on our own health and our family's health than on a stranger among the general public.
I'm glad you will be there to step in, no doubt. I'm just openly and honestly admitting I won't be joining you in that room.