Will you work during a Pandemic?

Nurses COVID

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  1. Nurses, would you go to work during a Pandemic?

    • 1926
      No
    • 5592
      Yes
    • 1288
      undecided

1,893 members have participated

admin note: we just added a poll to this thread today, april 25, 2008, please take a second and vote in the poll so we can have a graphical representation of the responses. thanks

scenario:

h5n1 (the bird flu) mutates to become efficient at transmitting human to human causing a pandemic, with a case fatality rate of 60% and with 80% of the cases in the 0-40 year old age range.

see:

http://www.wpro.who.int/nr/rdonlyres/fd4ac2fd-b7c8-4a13-a32c-6cf328a0c036/0/s4_1113.jpg

hospitals will be quickly overrun. hospital staff shortages are 50%. the government orders all nurses to work. there is not enough personal protection equipment (n95 masks, gloves, goggles, tamiflu, vax, etc)

home quarantines become common (in the fed plans).

your family is also quarantined in your home. you are running out of food and the government promises you will be "taken care of" if you report to work.

will you go?

Ayrman, What do you do with all the food if nothing goes wrong and there is still plenty of food to go around. Do you just eat the canned food all along, or do you donate it somewhere after a few years?

Where do you get all this food? Do you buy it online and have it shipped?

I think if I was to go to the store and buy all the canned and non perishable food they would look at me like I was crazy.

I like to be prepared too, and have though of stocking up on food for a while.

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Oh my goodness, If I went and bought that much food, well the boys would probably have it eaten by the end of the week. But it is scary isn't it? I think I'd go to work but I think then I'd be too scared to go home in case I took it into my house and killed my kids. so maybe not..I don't know.

we could always gom fishing I guess. Yep that would be cool, a couple of months of camping and fishing. Fish can't get the flu can they?

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Specializes in Emergency, outpatient.

Last job I was at it was in a hurricane area, and you were required to go to work if scheduled and stay until released. I can see them trying to do that with a pandemic. Yes, "take care of you" included transporting you to work (not back home) and feeding you and providing you with scrubs if needed and a place to sleep/shower.

If I was single and no family, maybe. With a family/children, no. Absolutely no. My job at that time would be to protect me and mine, and help my immediate neighbors. If they take my license, that's okay.

Time to do something else for a living.

BTW, as a previous military nurse, we were always told we could all be "recalled" in a national emergency. At that point who is gonna come get me and make me come to work?

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Specializes in Peds (previous psyc/SA briefly).
Yes I would go to work during a pandemic. Current research suggests if you have had the flu vacine every year you will likely be the survivorof a pandemic. Didnt anyone take care of sars r/o patients ?

Can you find that research? That's very curious. Seriously.

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It's a good chance you wouldn't survive, so that makes it a whole other question. I have a daughter to take care of. Look how our government is treating us right now. I know it is better than some other places in the world, but still .....

I love being a nurse and take all precautions I can. If there were no tools for precautions it would be a definite no.

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Specializes in Women's Specialty, Post-Part, Scrub(cs).

I originally posted that YES, I would go to work during a pandemic. I was here in LA for Hurricane Katrina. Alot of evacuees from N'orleans were here at our convention center. Then just a little later we had our own Rita...Wiped out all of the parish below us and nearly destroyed our parish. I was a student then but still did volunteer work with the Red Cross working under licensed nurses. This was no pandemic, but the evaction from Katrina brought a string of virus's and bacteria's here. Then we had to deal with our own...water wasn't drinkable for a couple of months. (for those who had water) Those who were out of Calcasieu parish were kept out for a couple of weeks (all exits closed.) EVERYBODY had damage to homes. I kinda looked at the question from that standpoint. Then I read the scenario. NO PPE...I don't know if I could do it. I would volunteer to relieve someone if I could have PPE. But, as on poster stated...I couldn't take care of many people if I were dying, too. So, in the event of natural or manmade catastrophe, you could count me in. In the event of me committing suicide....nah, I'd just have to seal off the house and wait for the government to come get me.

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As others have posted, w/o PPE, I would have to refuse. My family comes first--Although I would feel conflicted by my responsibilities as a nurse, the mother instinct in me would override. I live in Florida, BTW.

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You didn't include one option in the poll : HE** NO! Sorry, my hospital doesn't care about it's employees on a normal basis, what makes you think it would care in a crisis? Yeah, we do mock disaster drills, and have a disaster preparedness plan. We do quite well during these drills. Yet, a few years ago, when the local high school actually had a real bomb threat, what happened? All the staff (including admin.) who had kids there LEFT to get their kids! So much for disaster drills....

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Specializes in PICU, NICU, SICU, CCU, ER, RN Paralegal.

I would go in, but would not depend on the government for anything. I'm from New Orleans, and was a full time back to school student so I did not stay for Katrina. A good friend was stuck on a hospital roof for 5 days taking care of patients. They were drinking IVF to survive, and she ended up with some fractured vertebrae. The hospital gave each of the nurses a check for 40 hours of work, and never thanked them for their loyalty and dedication to their patients. When the patients were finally evacuated, the nurses were taken to the closest suburb and dropped off on the street to fend for themselves. It is my understanding that the nurses who came from out of town were treated much better than that.

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Those of us veterans should have on board PPE that we take with us. It is not a matter of the government providing such equipment. As the average American, we expect or seem to expect, others to protect and come to the rescue when thing fall apart. Yes, it is imparative that we provide for our families, but we have received the training and updates that have given us the heads up to put thing in place for our family safety, so going to work should not be an issue. You should have (provided by your employer) PPE and you should have it available for you take bring with you. Stock piling water and food and sources for heating and cooking should be a routine today all health care providers. So, I would definitely respond. It is not all about "me" that is something American need to remembe. nanacrol

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Those of us veterans should have on board PPE that we take with us. It is not a matter of the government providing such equipment. As the average American, we expect or seem to expect, others to protect and come to the rescue when thing fall apart. Yes, it is imparative that we provide for our families, but we have received the training and updates that have given us the heads up to put thing in place for our family safety, so going to work should not be an issue. You should have (provided by your employer) PPE and you should have it available for you take bring with you. Stock piling water and food and sources for heating and cooking should be a routine today all health care providers. So, I would definitely respond. It is not all about "me" that is something American need to remembe. nanacrol

I applaud your choice, and your freedom to make that choice. I and lots of others will be choosing otherwise. Nobody is going to look out for me except for me and my loved ones. Life will go on after all but the most serious and global pandemics/disasters. I will not put my life and my loved ones in harm's way without the proper protective equipment and working environment, and maybe not even then, depending on the situation.

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The government "orders" me to work? No PPE? They'll "take care" of me?

Nah. Don't think so.

That's what I'm saying. I saw how they took care of people at the Superdome and the New Orleans Convention Center. The very last people I am looking to in the world to "take care of" me are the state/federal government, and especially FEMA. They can order me all they want. Not gonna happen. If they want people in the hospitals so badly, let them go.

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