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.
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.
I try very hard not to be judgemental, but the "me and mind mentality" is just too much for me. You and your family are not in the world alone. ing to protect yourself in the name of "Even if you stay at home to care for your little circle, you really aren't doing anything to protect them you merely are being scared and using them as a shield. Sorry, the truth is the truth. We need to let go of our ego and become one withothers. nana carol
Can I have your canned goods after you ride that high horse into the hereafter?
I'd wager the damage wouldn't be that bad if it got into western countries.
We're all going to pop our clogs at some point, dying from a panademic while helping the sick and terminally ill seems as good a way as any, if not a tad noble.
Uhm...
Wait a moment while I swoon at the romantic idea of dying a noble death as a self-denying saint of a nurse wiping the sweating brow of dying influenza patients as I feel my body surrendering to this wretched illness.
Ok, moment over.
Kytril, please. Thinking this fashion has made me oh so nauseous.
Specializes in He who hesitates is probably right....
I try very hard not to be judgemental, but the "me and mind mentality" is just too much for me. You and your family are not in the world alone. ing to protect yourself in the name of "Even if you stay at home to care for your little circle, you really aren't doing anything to protect them you merely are being scared and using them as a shield. Sorry, the truth is the truth. We need to let go of our ego and become one withothers. nana carol
Me and mine, as you say, are my first priority. Fear? I've only been a nurse for two years. In my previous career, I had the chance to stare death in the face more than once. There is no shame in being afraid. That said, I'll be home with "me and mine" while you become ill and die a noble death. Hopefully, some of us will make it. If this comes to pass, some of us will need to be around to care for survivors, and of course, lay a wreath or two for nanacarol.
admin note: please note, we just added the poll to this thread (4-25-08), so please take a second and vote in the poll so we can get a graphical idea 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.
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?
if only half of the above were true, i still wouldn't go! how will the govt take care of anyone if food in such a situation!
Or maybe the rest of you should become true caregivers, servants. Remember, putting others first. Of course I would desire to save my family, but maybe by doing for someone else I would be doing just that. And I do have a life, it is just not centered around me and mine. nanacarol
I'd go to work and stay there for the duration. I would expect that my family recieve sufficient supplies to weather the storm in quarantine, but I would take my chances doing my duty. I knew it was a possibility when I entered the profession and I wouldn't have started down this path if I hadn't already determined what I intend to do when push comes to shove.
Someone has to provide care. Even at the risk of their own well being. The sick people are someone's family, and just as I would want a caregiver to come to work to take care of me and mine, I would want to be there to do my part. Especially with so many of you opting to stay home.
Specializes in He who hesitates is probably right....
Or maybe the rest of you should become true caregivers, servants. Remember, putting others first. Of course I would desire to save my family, but maybe by doing for someone else I would be doing just that. And I do have a life, it is just not centered around me and mine. nanacarol
RN = Registered Nurse, not Registered Servant. I, like all of the nurses on here, am a caregiver. What exactly is a "true caregiver?" Please, enlighten me.
I'd go to work and stay there for the duration. I would expect that my family recieve sufficient supplies to weather the storm in quarantine, but I would take my chances doing my duty. I knew it was a possibility when I entered the profession and I wouldn't have started down this path if I hadn't already determined what I intend to do when push comes to shove.
Someone has to provide care. Even at the risk of their own well being. The sick people are someone's family, and just as I would want a caregiver to come to work to take care of me and mine, I would want to be there to do my part. Especially with so many of you opting to stay home.
While I disagree with your opinion, I appreciate the logical, reasoned, and non-hostile way that you expressed yourself. Others could learn from your good example.
One thing though, in all seriousness, making sure your family gets the supplies they need means YOU need to buy and store them BEFORE the trouble starts.
Count on the government to make nothing better, and possibly make a lot of things much worse, sometimes by accident and sometimes on purpose.
For those of you who are "just RNs" a true caregiver is one who walks in the areas of need as Florence Nightingale and Ms Wald and the other matriachs of the profession did before the 21st century and the arrival of "what's in it ofr me" group decided to become nurses. Please I am not trying to put anyone down or do emotional blackmail, I am merely pointing out that nursing and being a nurse places each of us in the very tenious position of doing for others before ourselves and ours.
As I have posted elsewhere in this forum, I am not a nurse or a HCW, so I don't want to speak out of turn here. But for all of you that think there is a sacred duty for nurses to help and care for people, then act now, do not wait to be a martyr once a pandemic starts. Help educate your colleagues and coworkers about the dangers and economic ramifications of a pandemic. Lobby your administrators and supervisors to stockpile PPE, have your local health care community develop triage plans for when a third of all HCWs call in sick or don't show up for work.
There will sadness and suffering, but failing to act now to help change the situation will only add to that sadness and suffering.
For those of you who are "just RNs" a true caregiver is one who walks in the areas of need as Florence Nightingale and Ms Wald and the other matriachs of the profession did before the 21st century and the arrival of "what's in it ofr me" group decided to become nurses. Please I am not trying to put anyone down or do emotional blackmail, I am merely pointing out that nursing and being a nurse places each of us in the very tenious position of doing for others before ourselves and ours.
That is your opinion, which applies only to you. I actually respect your single-minded dedication, but your smug self-satisfaction is ridiculous.
bigjim
137 Posts
Can I have your canned goods after you ride that high horse into the hereafter?