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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.
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?
while the feds can impose marshall law during such a situation, unless you're in the military or national guard, i don't believe they can make you work.
the more likely problem that will be encountered will be for those nurses already at work--if they leave without being replaced by another nurse, it can be deemed patient abandonment. the board of nursing could take action against you.
and based on what happpened to the rns and doctors left stranded with patients following the hurricane in new orleans, not only will you be stuck, you may also be tried on criminal charges even after you've done your best to take care of the patients in a horrendous situation.
i had a small taste of the situation when some 25 years ago, when we had a blizzard here that snowed in the day shift for 24 hours. when i was able to get in, 12 hrs after i should have been there, the day shift nurses were crying with relief, they were so tired and so happy to see a replacement.
if we have a contagious, highly fatal outbreak of some sort, it will be bad, very bad . . . . .
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?
frankly, i already have a very high risk of catching this disease, increasing my chances of dying greatly, so no, i most likely would not go even if there was enough ppe available.
If marshall law is imposed, we cease to have the ability to make a choice. Homeland security will take over, the reality is we won't have a choice. I too was part of the blizzard issue, so I really have a stake in encouraging a deep introspection. I am 60 years old so I am a member of the expendable I still have a family and I still believe I would respond. nanacarol
If marshall law is imposed, we cease to have the ability to make a choice. Homeland security will take over, the reality is we won't have a choice.
You always have a choice. You might not like the consequences of that choice, but you have a choice.
Nobody's making me work if I decide I'm not working. They may be able to physically take me somewhere, but they can't make me work. And I would think the police and National Guard would have enough to do without having to try and find me.
Nurses in any other country already are working at a disadvantage, so let's be real. They don't have an expectation of the latest PPE, they respond most often to the immediate need.
If you worked near Toronto during SARs, your response might be different. What you don't know is, 37 of our colleagues are on permanent life support, intubation d/t SARs. Their lives are destroyed...and nobody cares.
Flygirl, not questioning your veracity but this is news to me and I am certain others as well. In the past all I personally have seen were general reports of HCW's becoming infected, with no long-term reports such as this.
Interesting news indeed.
Ayrman
I didn't have long to Google but found this quite quickly:
I had never expected to see so many of my colleagues fall so seriously ill as a result of doing their job; nearly 6 monthly later, many are too ill, weak, and traumatised to return to work. They remain fatigues, short of breath, and some are still attached to ventilators. Some have permanent lung scarring and ongoing respiratory complications. Others have died."Paul Caulford, MD The Lancet 362: Dec 2003 (emphasis in original)
The time for planning is NOW. You don't want to be part of the pack of idiots stampeding to Wal-Mart to try and buy bottled water and SPAM. That goes for any disaster, not just the flu. Buy it cheap and stack it deep.
Absolutely right. The vast majority of the public lump pandemic flu in with Y2K and the like. To them it's nothing to worry about (probably because in most people's lifetime they've never encountered severe hardship). The days of putting a little aside to weather the bad times are seemingly over, and to most that kind of thinking has now been relegated to the mindset of paranoid survivalists. I keep running into people who's attitude is "but what can I do?". Bigjim just answered that. It doesn't have to be vast quantities that stress your budget - just a little extra every time you shop, properly stored, and you'll be in better shape in any emergency than most of the population who might have a weeks worth of food in their cupboards. If this thing has a high CFR then food, water, gas, electricity and all the other things we take for granted may not always be around. If you live more than walking distance from your place of work, how will you get there if gas becomes a problem? Assuming it's running, do you want to take public transport in the middle of a major pandemic? Not me - not even gloved up with an N100 respirator. Most of us have life insurance to protect our families - stocking and rotating emergency supplies is just insurance that you'll actually use.
Assuming it's running, do you want to take public transport in the middle of a major pandemic? Not me - not even gloved up with an N100 respirator. Most of us have life insurance to protect our families - stocking and rotating emergency supplies is just insurance that you'll actually use.
I don't take public transportation now, let alone in a crisis situation.
He is so right about this. There will be a tremendous need for volunteers,
and not just for HCW.
People in their 50's, are a good choice, but anyone older that has something
to offer should do so. We have a greater chance of surviving should we
become infected. And, most of us are not still raising young children...
Pandemic flu in general, and bird flu in particular, likes younger people. As this chart shows, 90% of all recorded cases of bird flu, and the highest mortality rates, appear in those under the age of 40.
What would we do if nobody wanted to nurse during a pandemic? It would be a very frightening situation, who would look after our families if everybody was dying and nobody wanted to use their skills.
I would like to hope that i would be there on the front line and doing my best.
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hollyvk, BSN
125 Posts
while the feds can impose marshall law during such a situation, unless you're in the military or national guard, i don't believe they can make you work.
the more likely problem that will be encountered will be for those nurses already at work--if they leave without being replaced by another nurse, it can be deemed patient abandonment. the board of nursing could take action against you.
and based on what happpened to the rns and doctors left stranded with patients following the hurricane in new orleans, not only will you be stuck, you may also be tried on criminal charges even after you've done your best to take care of the patients in a horrendous situation.
i had a small taste of the situation when some 25 years ago, when we had a blizzard here that snowed in the day shift for 24 hours. when i was able to get in, 12 hrs after i should have been there, the day shift nurses were crying with relief, they were so tired and so happy to see a replacement.
if we have a contagious, highly fatal outbreak of some sort, it will be bad, very bad . . . . .
hollyvk