No worries USA. Only healthcare workers will be exposed to ebola.

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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?

This again justifies my reasoning and ideology that nursing profession is a joke. So imagine contracting the disease out of selfless act while being meagerly paid, no compensation there after, ohh and you end up being a guinea pig with experimental serums! Then if they do not work, u end up in hell. So the question would be then "what do I suggest?" I suggest that every time there is a disease that is still not well known then whoever is taking care of that patient should be compensated at a different level. Well that won't happen why, there are so many nurse out there from 3 different routes of schooling and they all selfless...Bravo nurses!

Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
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).

And I'm pretty sure the nurses on this unit, signed up to be there--i.e. they knew that taking the position that they are in now would mean that they would be treating patients with exotic/rare/deadly infectious diseases. This is by no means a criticism of, well, anyone. I honestly don't know my reaction if I were to show up to work and be told I would be taking care of a pt with ebola. I firmly believe it was the right decision to bring him to the US, but I don't know that I would feel comfortable taking care of him.

However, the staff on this unit in Atlanta is familiar with the unit's equipment, procedures, etc., and I think/hope they are comfortable with taking care of this man, and I honestly feel that this specific case poses very little threat to the US (especially compared with a lay person coming to the US on a commercial plan and entering the public at large without us even knowing he/she has the disease).

Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
II'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.

I loved this entire post, but especially this part. I already gave the example of the pt with multi-drug resistant Tb coughing on you before you have a clue that could have said disease. I would rather "step into" a situation knowing what I'm dealing with--i.e. a pt with Ebola--than having no clue that I am treating and may have just been exposed to some other deadly disease.

Specializes in L&D, Women's Health.
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.

AllNurses has a membership of 836,670 memers. It is not at all unrealistic that the small handful of "anonymous martyrs" posting here HAVE actually taken care of AIDS patients when it was just as frightening as ebola, and, as back then, there ARE nurses today who would actually care for ebola patients. I seriously doubt they would consider themselves to be martyrs. To me, the sarcasm is extremely insulting.

I am thankful there ARE nurses willing to care for such patients for one day I or, worse, my loved ones may be one of those patients. I don't see these nurses as smug, superior martyrs but as healthcare providers. Obviously, YMMV.

Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
Everything we do involves risk.

I am going to call off for my next shift with the reason "there is way too much risk to me by coming to work today…being hit by a car, secondhand smoke, being exposed to who-knows what disease at work, there is Ebola is the US…" Think they will buy it?

Sorry, just trying to provide a light moment in a very serious discussion. On that note, I must commend the AN nurses…this is one of the longest threads that hasn't resorted to name calling, insults, and "trollerly" (yes, I just invented that word), and the discussion has been a serious, thoughtful debate. I'm glad professionals have a place where they can engage in a serious discussion of an important issue!

Specializes in ER/SICU/House Float.

It seems that a private company has a "cure". The doctor was given one dose and was walking around within 24 hours. The nurse was given 2 before she became better. I think the "cure" is why they want to study these 2 within the US.

I also think that those that would refuse to treat these patient. I can understand your fear and attitude we don't' get paid the big buck. I've had that attitude about of lot of crap I've done as a nurse. LOL I think there are lots of reason people become nurses. There are a lot of nurses that choice the profession because it been billed as recession proof or a good paying job LOL.

Then there are folk that have a natural mercy or calling to help the infirmed. There is no one being self righteous just different reasons for doing the same job. I feel like these people need care just like when I was the only one willing to take care of the very underweight, dying gay male (hiv aids) patient. We did a full isolation procedure for positive patients. I and a older nurse on days were the only ones to take care of him in his final days. I still remember this man 22 years later (just saying) not self righteous but hope this guy felt someone loved him in his final moments. (he had no family to visit - a black gay man in the deep south back then was usually treated pretty bad and add a deadly disease he was terribly alone.

I happen to be one of those you regard as "self righteous" because I did take care of aid/hiv patient when there was a big unknown. The hospital started testing all patients. Then "privacy" stuff started because it mostly gay men. Then they ask each patient permission to test. I had a combative patient which I ended with a accidental stick. There was up to a year of unknown if contracted the disease.

There was also a big nurse/lab personal shortage cause folks didn't want to chance exposure. I totally get those that would refuse but also think the attitude toward those of us who would care for them is a bit defensive.

Oh and also MRSA was new and spreading with no cure. I had a patient that started with a toe amputation and several amputations later until the whole hip socket was removed. I had the betadine power spray wound debridement. You young ones would really think danger of contamination if you saw how the thing worked LOL It was a messy procedur

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"...

I don't think it's the same thing at all. Driving a car is a necessity in our society, unless you have the luxury of arranging your life differently, or if you live in NYC. ;-P

Making the decision to go to a third world country and volunteer to care for people suffering from Ebola virus, knowing that you could be exposed and contract the disease yourself, is completely different from getting into your car to go to work.

And nowhere did anyone say that Dr. Brantly is not deserving of treatment. That is a huge leap.

Many interesting posts

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

When does taking care of infectious pts (especially when most are infected and never show outward signs) equals "martyr"? :confused:

First off, most of us are educated in the sense to treat ALL patients as infectious individuals; I have always treated people as such; I've been doing this for a while and the risk is always there; it's to the point that ANYONE can be infected with any unknown or obscure disease, and can be infectious, that's the stone, cold sober REALITY, not martyrdom. :no:

I don't subscribe to martyrdom; to indicate people who are willing to go about business as usual as martyrs is off the mark; the same goes for those who hesitate who walk a thin line to many who have posted here that have BTDT and those phrases sound like déjà vu and are transported many back to the early 80s and sound VERY familiar can get people pretty heated-I get that as well.

Life is risky; I like the known, but I am aware of a vague unknown, "known"... ;)

It comes with the territory in working in this business.

I definitely don't equate nursing with martyrdom. The way I see it, if I don't take care of myself, I can't take care of anyone else. To recklessly throw myself in harm's way is doing a disservice to myself and those I care for. I understand the risks associated with working in the ER, that I might be exposed to infectious diseases, knowingly or unknowingly.

To me, this is a completely different question than whether or not we should bring Ebola to the US. To me, it's a public health issue, not an ethical or moral question about how far we should go as nurses to care for the sick. I think that's up to each individual nurse to determine for his or her self.

Specializes in L&D, Women's Health.

Found this extremely fascinating and applicable to today's situation. (Once you get past the introductory info)

[h=2]The AIDS Epidemic in San Francisco: The Response of the Nursing[/h]http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=kt700007g5&&doc.view=entire_text

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
I definitely don't equate nursing with martyrdom. The way I see it, if I don't take care of myself, I can't take care of anyone else. To recklessly throw myself in harm's way is doing a disservice to myself and those I care for. I understand the risks associated with working in the ER, that I might be exposed to infectious diseases, knowingly or unknowingly.

To me, this is a completely different question than whether or not we should bring Ebola to the US. To me, it's a public health issue, not an ethical or moral question about how far we should go as nurses to care for the sick.

However, the course of discussion has gone there; there are situations that we face as nurses that do come down to an ethical and moral question.

I think being practical as far as this situation based on the information at hand; this organization had paid for a vaccine or serum that helped improved the doctor and nurse and are being flown to a place that is specialized in infectious diseases and has been working on a vaccine is less of a risk of someone that is unknowingly infected and spreads it through coming back into the states and going about business but that's me.

My preservation level is adjusted in this case, when a vaccination and signs and symptoms are improved; with thinking about incubation and window of transmission, they may be less infectious; having the proper training, PPE and universal precautions, I have no issues caring for a known carrier of the disease-I've done so for many years, as well as my most recent shift was caring for someone with two highly infectious, airborn illnesses; I gave them the medication they needed as well as practiced universal precautions to prevent spreading it to other pts as well as my home environment; I have a routine that I hope decreases the retaining of infectious microbes and the like; so it's more like muscle memory to me; guess that why my take on the situation is that IF (that's a big IF) Ebola (even though it's been in the US for quite some time now) were to hit my area or I had to provide care, I am prepared the best way I can, because I do believe and exercise self preservation. :yes:

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