Survey Results: To Quarantine or not to Quarantine
We surveyed our nursing community to see what you thought about the issues over the Kaci Hickox situation as well as its impact on nurses and healthcare workers. We also asked about your thoughts on quarantining all healthcare workers who have cared for Ebola patients. These issues have certainly generated lots of discussion within our allnurses community. We've read what some of you have said in the public threads......now you can see what more than 3,800 said in private.
To Quarantine or Not to Quarantine......That is the Question that we posed last Thursday. We just want to thank the 3800+ of you nurses who took the time to participate in the latest survey. Your voices have been heard and here is what you said about Kaci Hickox and other healthcare workers who have cared for Ebola patients.
Many posters felt that nurses who took care of Ebola patients should voluntarily quarantine themselves and not run the risk of infecting others....we should err on the side of caution. Some thought quarantine should be mandatory. Many comments were made that we don't know enough about Ebola, and that is causing a lot of discomfort. Some felt that quarantine was not necessary since she is asymptomatic, and some interesting comments pointed to hysteria and reactionism to the possible need for quarantine. Other comments included that the nurses should get paid for this time and several others weren't quite sure of the need for quarantine or not and wanted more information. Some felt "this nurse should be setting a good example for others."
There were 581 comments on this question
The second question garnered 441 comments.
Many comments were made to the effect that this nurse needed to more closely monitor her interactions with the media. Nurses usually have no public relations experience and for this nurse it was the cause of much negative publicity. "Kaci has turned this into a media frenzy." While many agree with her position, they feel she has handled this poorly.
Summary of comments
There were over 2300 comments:
Most responders said that until we know more we should quarantine with pay. Many felt that education and following CDC guidelines was the way to deal with healthcare workers exposed to Ebola. Another commonality was to provide more information to the public so that hysteria and panic was averted. Many posters felt that self-quarantine was the way to go and others felt that these healthcare workers should be monitored in a CDC facility.
"When the big one comes, irrational fear will be a huge impediment to success against a really serious adversary, like SARS or influenza. As Franklin Roosevelt said, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”"
A very reasoned and responsible article.
Got to love the comments following it. The usual badly spelled, ungrammatical nonsense. Even after being told that she was right to do what she did, the 'peepul' insist that they know best.
"For now, though, she’s considering her options as she looks for work. Her boyfriend, Ted Wilbur, contends he was told to stay away from the University of Maine at Fort Kent while she was in the news. He formally withdrew from the school on Friday.
The couple said they would likely be leaving town soon.
Hickox, who holds a nursing degree from the University of Texas at Arlington and master’s degrees in nursing and public health from John Hopkins University, said she may opt to go back to school.
“I have been over the last couple of days been toying with the idea of maybe getting a doctorate degree and focusing on quarantine law,” she said."
"“It’s hard to have measured responses when having this conversation because I do find some of the behavior of folks returning from Ebola zones really exasperating,” said Noel T. Brewer, an associate professor who studies the psychology of risky health decisions at the University of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. “As a lay person and as a person who studies health risk, sheltering in place or keeping your distance for 21 days does seem like a small cost to accept in comparison to the alarm they caused.”"
"Part of the problem is cultural, said Dr. Brewer, echoing many of his public health colleagues. Americans tend to think more about individual than communal rights and are understandably dubious of medical mandates that seem to be always changing. Americans also value toughness and the ability to work through physical adversity without thinking how they might end up weakening other members of the team."
"Contrast this with many Asian countries where it’s common to see people wearing surgical masks in public. Tellingly, Americans tend to assume this is to prevent the mask wearer from getting sick. But it’s actually more often the reverse: The wearer is sick and the mask serves not only to prevent passing germs to others but also to alert people that the wearer is unwell and they should keep their distance."
"“America has gotten so focused on rugged individualism and the autonomy of the person that we forget we have wider ethical responsibilities to our families and communities and our country,” said Professor Gostin, who bows rather than shaking hands when he is sick and sends home ill students attending his classes. “This me-first mentality is what I think promotes irresponsibility when it comes to public health.”"
"Wilbur and Hickox were quick to say their planned move has nothing to do with the Fort Kent community, rather what Wilbur termed “a lack of leadership” on the the part of the University of Maine at Fort Kent, where he was studying nursing."
"On Friday, Wilbur withdrew from the campus’ accelerated nursing program, accusing campus officials of failing to address concerns he had about returning to classes this week. Since Hickox’s return, Wilbur had been participating in the nursing program at UMFK via online classes or by phoning in to on-campus lectures.'
“I asked for something more protective,” Wilbur said. “I did not feel safe, secure or supported by the campus officials, [and] I will now pursue my nursing degree at another institution.”
“For us, it was definitely a lovely outing,” Hickox said. “We had not been out of the house in days, and we’d been through a lot.”
"The couple stressed, however, it was indeed an act of civil disobedience aimed at forcing LePage’s hand with regards to the court order."
“The reality is when a state decides to quarantine somebody, they have certain responsibilities, and one of those is to actually get a court order,” Hickox said. “That is just the fact of quarantine law in many states.”
"Confining someone to their home without such an order, Wilbur said, is the same as tossing someone in jail without first informing an individual of their rights or charging them."
“So in the state of Maine, it was the attorney general, the governor and the health commissioner’s responsibility to get a court order to force me into quarantine,” Hickox said."
“We had to force the governor through civil disobedience to actually do his job of actually getting that court order,” Wilbur said."
"“It’s hard to have measured responses when having this conversation because I do find some of the behavior of folks returning from Ebola zones really exasperating,” said Noel T. Brewer, an associate professor who studies the psychology of risky health decisions at the University of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. “As a lay person and as a person who studies health risk, sheltering in place or keeping your distance for 21 days does seem like a small cost to accept in comparison to the alarm they caused.”"
It would have been one thing if the actions of the returning healthcare workers actually posed a real threat to the public. Since they don't, I don't find the argument that this article puts forth relevant at all. It seems like the persons quoted in this article, like so many others, don't understand the fact that an asymptomatic person isn't infectious.
If alarm is caused due to the public's erroneous beliefs and misconceptions, that should in my opinion be addressed by information and education, not by the implementation of unwarranted quarantines.
Also, I don't agree that the cost (of quarantines) is small.
1) Civil liberties matter! A lot.
2) Stopping this outbreak at the source is vital for us all, throwing a spanner in the works benefits no one.
3) It sends the message that you might be infected by an asymptomatic person, which you can't. That mistaken belief would create unnessesary fear.
""It's hard to have measured responses when having this conversation because I do find some of the behavior of folks returning from Ebola zones really exasperating," said Noel T. Brewer, an associate professor who studies the psychology of risky health decisions at the University of North Carolina's Gillings School of Global Public Health. "As a lay person and as a person who studies health risk, sheltering in place or keeping your distance for 21 days does seem like a small cost to accept in comparison to the alarm they caused.""
"Part of the problem is cultural, said Dr. Brewer, echoing many of his public health colleagues. Americans tend to think more about individual than communal rights and are understandably dubious of medical mandates that seem to be always changing. Americans also value toughness and the ability to work through physical adversity without thinking how they might end up weakening other members of the team."
"Contrast this with many Asian countries where it's common to see people wearing surgical masks in public. Tellingly, Americans tend to assume this is to prevent the mask wearer from getting sick. But it's actually more often the reverse: The wearer is sick and the mask serves not only to prevent passing germs to others but also to alert people that the wearer is unwell and they should keep their distance."
""America has gotten so focused on rugged individualism and the autonomy of the person that we forget we have wider ethical responsibilities to our families and communities and our country," said Professor Gostin, who bows rather than shaking hands when he is sick and sends home ill students attending his classes. "This me-first mentality is what I think promotes irresponsibility when it comes to public health.""
An excellent article, thank you. A greater sense of social responsibility/community cohesiveness (or the lack, thereof) also has its consequences in terms of successfully meeting the challenges of a catastrophic event, be it a disease-related epidemic, hurricane, or tsunami, for example. That said, I have every reason to believe that most Americans have these positive qualities.
Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
Boston FNP summed up my feelings about most of the other comments perfectly. I did have to wonder if you are aware that you said this to the one person on the site (that I am aware of) that has, for the last 18 years, has spent their summer volunteering in Asia and/or Africa (alongside my ENTIRE family I might add, including spouse and our 7 children). Sorry, it just made me laugh out loud.
Am I trying to get Ebola? Of course not. Neither am I trying to get malaria, but I have. Nor will either disease or any of the dozens of others we've been exposed to keep us from going next year, and the year after, and the year after that, ad infinitum until I'm too old and decrepit to go any longer, or have died from one of said diseases. lol. You try to quarantine me upon my return and I will fight you with every resource I can muster. It is nonsense, and I won't stand for nonsense, even if it makes ignorant people less frightened.
Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
Scary.
The country awards clip is just appalling, and shows what happens when you let 'celebrities' and media decide what your positions on anything should be. Seriously, these people came over to me as the reddest of red-necks. (I am watching the box set of Justified at the moment).
I stated way back in comment #32 on this thread -
I just had to bite when I saw that. My response:
"This just confirms my belief that country music fans and performers are at the shallow end of the IQ pool. Brad and Carrie, do some research (try not to move your lips when you read) about Ebola before you spout off before a national audience, displaying your ignorance for all to see."
But I still can't help but wonder if we learned from it?!?! I know I have!! I'm a new grad, and learned about the aids crisis from AN and from my micro professor.... I compare the aids hysteria to the Ebola hysteria often.
""It's hard to have measured responses when having this conversation because I do find some of the behavior of folks returning from Ebola zones really exasperating," said Noel T. Brewer, an associate professor who studies the psychology of risky health decisions at the University of North Carolina's Gillings School of Global Public Health. "As a lay person and as a person who studies health risk, sheltering in place or keeping your distance for 21 days does seem like a small cost to accept in comparison to the alarm they caused.""
"As a lay person and one who studies risk.." You are either one or the other.
[quote=Mulan;8215271
"Contrast this with many Asian countries where it's common to see people wearing surgical masks in public. Tellingly, Americans tend to assume this is to prevent the mask wearer from getting sick. But it's actually more often the reverse: The wearer is sick and the mask serves not only to prevent passing germs to others but also to alert people that the wearer is unwell and they should keep their distance."
I'm not disputing the thinking but how long do surgical masks protect for and how effective are they?
"The reality is when a state decides to quarantine somebody, they have certain responsibilities, and one of those is to actually get a court order," Hickox said. "That is just the fact of quarantine law in many states."
"Confining someone to their home without such an order, Wilbur said, is the same as tossing someone in jail without first informing an individual of their rights or charging them."
"So in the state of Maine, it was the attorney general, the governor and the health commissioner's responsibility to get a court order to force me into quarantine," Hickox said."
"We had to force the governor through civil disobedience to actually do his job of actually getting that court order," Wilbur said."
America used to be known as the land of the free - what happened?
It would have been one thing if the actions of the returning healthcare workers actually posed a real threat to the public. Since they don't, I don't find the argument that this article puts forth relevant at all. It seems like the persons quoted in this article, like so many others, don't understand the fact that an asymptomatic person isn't infectious.
If alarm is caused due to the public's erroneous beliefs and misconceptions, that should in my opinion be addressed by information and education, not by the implementation of unwarranted quarantines.
Also, I don't agree that the cost (of quarantines) is small.
1) Civil liberties matter! A lot.
2) Stopping this outbreak at the source is vital for us all, throwing a spanner in the works benefits no one.
3) It sends the message that you might be infected by an asymptomatic person, which you can't. That mistaken belief would create unnessesary fear.
GrumpyRN, NP
1,355 Posts
A very reasoned and responsible article.
Got to love the comments following it. The usual badly spelled, ungrammatical nonsense. Even after being told that she was right to do what she did, the 'peepul' insist that they know best.
What happened to Habeus Corpus?