Gizzey

I agree but as you say, visiting nurses are going to experience something alot different now.. We have different areas of community nurses, Health visitors --they usually are triple trained, they have their general nursing, midwifery and either psych or paeds..They look after babes from they are 10 days old until they are school age (4 years)--1st response will come as a huge shock..They deal with babies/toddlers, post natal depression, post parteum problems. District nurses--look after generally elderly but adults/kids after surgery. Fair enough..They also liaise with Hosps so may have more personal preps.. School nurses--Usually dual trained..So paeds and general..Sometimes Psych. Nice safe school environment..Huge shock. The Marie Curie nurses or Macmillian nurses are the best prepared..They look after end stage oncology patients in their own home. Those that chose to die at home. These are the basics but there are different specialities within a speciality..Breast and stoma care, urology, dialysis, they are all community nurses who become 1st responders..! I really and truely hope there is counselling, debriefing during, never mind after a pandemic..I hold you in esteem because I liked the security of a ward environment, people around me to vent, to or bounce ideas off.

This is very similar to the reports I linked you too..It is excellant.

Just saw this now..Kids were off school today (Holy day) and very demanding to put it politely..I was speed reading and typing.. I hope you got some sleep..I see you posted after this post. Sleep is very important, more important than these forums..Though I know how easy it is to get caught up..:)

The GPs and community nurses know they are first responders and their role and treatment protocol BUT they are worried about what they are going to face, what is truely expected of them, are they mentally ready to face this level of death and disease ALONE..Inevitably they will be making housecalls alone..It is a scary, scary time..Especially for those in the dark.. Nursing should be involved in the planning, no-one knows how nurses will react or cope with certain situations but nurses. Nurses should have a say in guidelines regarding their own operations.

I don't know if this will help.. http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/delilah.pdf and this Emergency Planning | Pandemic Flu | DHSSPS(NI) Revealed: Ireland's plans for coping with bird flu - World - Times Online This second link is for Southern Ireland but there will be cross-border co-operation and operations.

I am all for it..If others are up for it! I am not around too often but often enough. I think if we could get nurses from all over the Globe. We need to look at the countries individual pandemic planning and Hospital protocol. Alot of countries have field hospitals in their planning and strict healthcare planning--We could learn from that. Other countries or individual hospitals have nothing. I think it was on Curevents that I was livid at the Gov's paying lipservice to protecting their country against BF..Oh we have Tamiflu and vaccines..They don't have enough, they don't have enough beds or equipment..These sporadic news bulletins re: Tamiflu, Relenza or vaccines are lulling the general populations into a false sense of security. I know GP's and community nurses here are getting worried because they have been told to get prepared as 1st responders. I will help anyway I can..

Hey :) I think thats it...Imagine young kids, the same age as your own and walking away..I couldn't! I suppose it could be seen as protecting our future. At the moment I look after quite a few elderly neighbours and other neighbours come to me for advise. I am having a battle with myself wondering could I refuse to help them in a pandemic..I don't think I could, though if I am at work, that would solve that problem! I have a problem with people saying they are SIPing and not helping neighbours and family..I realise this is an issue with me and not the general public though. Just reading an e-mail from a friend. She is a nurse in England. 2 of her local hospitals have had outbreaks of Pneumonia in the young and teens. Never been seen before allegedly. It concerns me all these *isolated* outbreaks of respiratory illness. Asthma in my area, pneumonia in clusters in Southern Ireland and now in England..Strangely peculiar!:uhoh21: I think as nurses we have become precious and spoilt. Think of nurses in developing countries, in military field hospitals, in the middle of natural disasters or terror attacks..They improvise, take risks and just generally get on with it..I hope to God things don't get that bad during a pandemic but I will keep it at the back of my mind. That there are other nurses out there who have it worse than me, who I am in awe off and who I am damn well going to try to work like..Though I may cry more than them..LOL

Here in Northern Ireland we can be forced to work also, with or without PPE's. I don't expect any less to be honest. When you go into Nursing or medicine it is a vocation, you can't bottle out when the going gets tough. The same as the military or police..There would be an outcry if they refused to protect us. I, like others here have a young family but I also have family to care for them when my DH and I go to work. The plan was to always to have the little cousins in the one house anyway. I think in Nursing you should always expect to be infected with something, if you don't you are lucky

For Avian Flu' ? I mean as nurses, not individuals! I am on the Major incident team for my hospital, meetings are now twice monthly not twice yearly. I live in Northern Ireland so because of the political situation, we always have to be prepared. As nurses have you been told treatment procedures, triage procedures. If there is a pandemic.