Survey Results: To Quarantine or not to Quarantine

[tnbutterfly - Mary]

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.

[toomuchbaloney]

It has been pretty neatly and concisely demonstrated on AN that there is no shortage of nurses who would sacrifice the individual freedoms of another because of their own fear and ignorance rather than to accept the scientific facts which negate the need to quarantine asymptomatic individuals.

[BostonFNP, APRN]

Clinicians Back Quarantine, Travel Bans in Medscape Ebola Survey. Medscape. Oct 31, 2014.

This was within margin of error for majority but sadly also included nurses. The AN poll was actually three fold larger.

Sent from my iPhone.

[dizzygatorrn]

Clinicians Back Quarantine, Travel Bans in Medscape Ebola Survey. Medscape. Oct 31, 2014.

"More than 1000 physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and registered nurses, along with almost 1300 adult visitors of WebMD, shared their views in the online survey during the second half of October."

If your sample is 1,000 clinicians and 1,300 "adult visitors" to the website, how can the results be interpreted to be the "clinicians' views"? For all one knows, the clinicians said one thing and the laypersons said the opposite. Looks a little sloppy to me.

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

"More than 1000 physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and registered nurses, along with almost 1300 adult visitors of WebMD, shared their views in the online survey during the second half of October."

If your sample is 1,000 clinicians and 1,300 "adult visitors" to the website, how can the results be interpreted to be the "clinicians' views"? For all one knows, the clinicians said one thing and the laypersons said the opposite. Looks a little sloppy to me.

That makes me wonder how many responded to this survey was a nurse as well.

[BlueDevil, DNP]

This was within margin of error for majority but sadly also included nurses. The AN poll was actually three fold larger.

Sent from my iPhone.

AN doesn't require one to be a licensed nurse to join, so the medscape poll is actually better IMO. there is no telling how many of the AN respondents were students, CNAs, lay people or trolls.

[ixchel]

AN doesn't require one to be a licensed nurse to join, so the medscape poll is actually better IMO. there is no telling how many of the AN respondents were students, CNAs, lay people or trolls.

Not to muddy the waters or anything, but I've been a medscape member since long before starting nursing school. I think it's safe to say both polls were not necessarily reliable.

[tess2564]

The response to these survey questions are quite disturbing to me. Scientific evidence is out there on the mode transmission and we were all trained in contact and droplet precautions. The over-exaggeration and hysteria over this in my nursing community speaks volumes to me of the lack of not only critical thinking skills but scientific astuteness of the nursing workforce. I actually heard someone talking about their infection rates and saying that in their particular facility, the nurse's sloppiness with infection control protocols made it almost a given that their next patient would contract an infectious disease. Needless to say, intensive training on simple infection control measures were taken in this particular facility. What an awful thing to hear. Nursing has always been one of the most trusted professions. Please, educate yourselves, use proper protocols, and don't make us look like inept buffoons in the eyes of others.

[tess2564]

I don't know...almost every nurse I talked to about this was in hysteria mode, which makes me think these polls are accurate.

[BostonFNP, APRN]

Instead of this inciting HCWs and the lay public to get involved in sending support to Africa to cure Ebola there, now that the U.S. is now Ebola-free it will go back to an issue most people don't even think about because the media has nothing to make people fearful of.

Sent from my iPhone.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Instead of this inciting HCWs and the lay public to get involved in sending support to Africa to cure Ebola there, now that the U.S. is now Ebola-free it will go back to an issue most people don't even think about because the media has nothing to make people fearful of.

Sent from my iPhone.

Sad when it's a choice between unwarranted hysteria and apathy, isn't it?

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

Yes, I do understand the parameters and rationale for quarantines. Get off your high horse and stop pretending that your degree (piece of paper) invalidates the knowledge or education of RNs or LPNs. THIS is why many nurses have an issue with doctors. We're not beneath you, so there is no need to flex your acquirement of your degree.

::: patiently::: "FNP" means "Family Nurse Practitioner" and "DNP" means "Doctor of Nursing Practice." How either accomplished the acquisition of a nursing degree would be a matter of public record.

Dare I say, "THIS post .... Nah, better not.

[OCNRN63, RN]

That makes me wonder how many responded to this survey was a nurse as well.

Or how many "nurses" were actually nurse's aides, nursing students, medical assistants, etc.