Here we go again with the media spouting idiotic information that they have no idea about and that cannot be explained with a few "google searches"
i find I am deeply irritated with the article about the RN who contracted Ebola for reasons of a blatant invasion of her privacy, and also for the following reasons.
1. You do not get Certified in nursing when you graduate from school, you have to take a test and you get licensed.
2. You do not need a CCRN to work in critical care and the absence of one does not mean you are not qualified for your position, or the fact that the Texas RN recently received her certification does not mean she was not qualified to care for a critically ill patient.
3. The sample exam of the CCRN on the website that the reporter gazed at for a couple of seconds in no way reflects a large percentage of the questions in the final exam, thus one can not make the assumption that there is no question on infectious diseases (which by the way is nursing 101 whereas the CCRN focuses on the hemodynamically unstable patient)
4. the constant parading of the pinterest quote leads me to believe that they want to emphasize that she did not trust in the knowledge of some of her physician colleagues (i mean really? we all work with certain doctors that make us question their every order because they just do not seem to get it)
...again, the media has absolutely NO idea what we do as nurses and is so incredibly lazy in its research that it does not even come close to scratching the surface.
How come everyone who decontaminates the houses of these people, the CDC, and the health care workers in Africa all wear hazmat suits and nurses are given a glorified trash bag to care for these pts in US? Really shows how much they value our safety. More like the value of the bottom line.
Disaster clean up people have more common sense than hospital administrators.
I don't blame her for the circumstances that led to her contracting the disease, and I wish her only the best. What I am calling B.S. on is the claim (and this may not be true, who knows with the media) that the CDC told her 99.5 was nothing to worry about, so she thought she was perfectly 'clear' to travel. As a nurse, and knowing what she knows, a 99.5 temp should have put her on high alert, not on an air plane.
My temp goes higher than that when I ovulate. Again, she deferred to the so called EXPERTS and was told she was fine. The failure is on whoever told her it was ok on the phone SEVERAL times
And if this hospital is anything like one I used to work in (and it kinda sounds similar), if a nurse told a supervisor that she wished to "arrange for hospital observation" for her barely elevated temperature, she would be outright laughed at. And told to forget it. AND told that if she felt she were too ill to work, she should stay home (thereby getting them 'off the hook' for liability in case she were to stay there and get more people infected).
If it were normal circumstances, I'd agree with you. HOWEVER, this is Ebola and she had been in direct contact with someone who had just died from it. Sorry, not your average 'elevated' temp.
The CDC is not like the Feds or National Guard; they cannot come and commandeer a private company
Yes, they can. They just didn't. Why not? Who knows... never us, I reckon.
"We've heard thinly veiled excuses from Frieden about the CDC's authority when it comes to practices and procedures at U.S. hospitals which carry no weight because the agency has direct access to lawmakers -- and even the president -- to be granted emergency powers allowing them to oversee the active response to a public health threat -- and provide any medical center faced with Ebola -- the right tools to successfully control the disease. Essentially, the power to lead. "
From this great article.
To CDC: Don't blame nurses, hospitals or Dallas. Blame Yourselves
Yes, they can. They just didn't. Why not? Who knows... never us, I reckon.
You have proof that they can?
If they attempted to and the hospital said "we have it under control", you think the CDC could have overridden that?
With what army?
People keep forgetting how government works...even the health department probably couldn't get people to keep a quarantine; there's a process to abide by, unless one calls for marshal law, not one state or federal agency can't just blatantly intervene, again, they are not the CIA or FBI, and even then there needs to be approval, by the governor or an executive order, or a court order.
That didn't happen, and wasn't going to, even if the wanted to, they would've; but again, they can't just intervene like they are homeland security or cops, they're NOT.
i Feel so bad for this poor nurse getting such backlash for traveling. There should have been CLEAR guidelines set. Was she placed in self imposed quarantine, or was she simply told to monitor her temperature? Was she even in direct contact with Thomas Eric Duncan, or simply working on the same floor? We have yet to hear the whole story, and unfortunately Amber Vinson is too busy fighting for her life to tell us her side.
From what I understand, when she flew from Texas to Ohio, she was afebrile. It was only on her return trip back to Texas, that her temperature was 99.5 (which is still not a fever, but cause for concern, given that she was in close contact with an Ebola patient). She had enough judgement to call the CDC, who assured her that she was fine to travel. Who knows what the real truth is, but can you imagine being in her shoes?
"The federal government derives its authority for isolation and quarantine from the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services is authorized to take measures to prevent the entry and spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the United States and between states.
The authority for carrying out these functions on a daily basishas been delegated to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)."
"The federal government derives its authority for isolation and quarantine from the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services is authorized to take measures to prevent the entry and spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the United States and between states.
The authority for carrying out these functions on a daily basishas been delegated to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)."
It still proves my point that they can't show up like the CIA, FBI, and National Guard like martial law...they NEED an executive order...they STILL can't just show up and take over, as posters are alluding to...there is a process.
If it were normal circumstances, I'd agree with you. HOWEVER, this is Ebola and she had been in direct contact with someone who had just died from it. Sorry, not your average 'elevated' temp.
Hmmm. Well, since hindsight IS always 20/20, I'm sure every hospital supervisor would (now) also say what you're saying, that this wasn't "an average elevated temp". BUT, in the moment, at a time when the staff isn't even being given proper protective gear, and staffing is ALWAYS short-handed....I still absolutely 100% expect that she would have been told there was no way they were going to admit her "just to observe". AND although we could debate whether that would be prudent or not.....I'd ALSO (based on my own personal experiences and countless many more I have read about on this website alone) bet that she'd be told to stay home. NOT take up a bed for "observation". But stay home, as in "not our problem".
It's one thing to insist on how things SHOULD be in nursing. But after awhile.....you find out what it IS to be in nursing....and it ain't what it SHOULD be much of the time!
Mulan
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