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.
Specializes in LTC/SNF, Psychiatric, Pharmaceutical.
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?
no ppe, no work.
if something like that even looked like it was going to happen, i would be making plans to be away long before quarantine was imposed... in australia or new zealand.
if things did get that bad, the government would have its hands full trying to quell massive civil unrest. i imagine martial law would be imposed.
being "noble" and "doing the right thing" will be of little comfort if my body is on a barge being towed out in the gulf of mexico to be dumped with hundreds of others.
I am fairly sure I would. It is my ethical decision, for me. I am fairly old and would not worry about too much. I am not trying to die, but I would rather die trying than sitting on the sidelines.
I believe we need to keep younger nurses able to pick up after so do not have any negative feelings towards people who are declining to work.
Specializes in Hem/Onc, LTC, AL, Homecare, Mgmt, Psych.
The government orders all nurses to work and there's not adequate PPE? In that circumstance I would give up my nursing license forever. If I wanted a really dangerous job I would work in a really dangerous place. But I don't. My family is where my priorities are.
Reference to HCW study in Maryland regarding working during a pandemic.
Another study out of Johns Hopkins found that nearly half of the public health employees in Maryland said they would stay away from work rather than risk exposing their families to the virus. Physicians and nurses were more likely to show up than support personnel. Clerical and some technical personnel were less likely to work, chiefly because of their perception of the value of their own roles.
Two-thirds of the public health workers in that study said their role is not important in combating a pandemic, and thus, they were less likely to show up.
The new study emphasizes that if essential workers fail to come through, the entire structure of any society will begin to unravel. And thus, the aftermath of the epidemic could claim more lives than the virus.. . .
I don't have children and my answer is still no. My profession is to care for people, not die for them.
:yeah:Great post! Short and sweet..Gets my goat when people think just because someone doesn't have a family(a traditional one, anyway) that they should be willing to martyr themselves.
Just watched a program I got off of Itunes the other night. It was made by the National Geographic people.It showed just how fast this virus will spread. If the pandemic hits, no way the government will be ready. And we've all seen just how much the government and administrators care about those who will be on the front lines of this thing.
I'll be home, taking care of my family and friends and anyone else in my neighborhood who may need help.
Just watched a program I got off of Itunes the other night. It was made by the National Geographic people.It showed just how fast this virus will spread. If the pandemic hits, no way the government will be ready. And we've all seen just how much the government and administrators care about those who will be on the front lines of this thing. quote]
I don't know if they've revised their timelines since I read about it, but based on modern popuation densities and travel patterns, the US government has modeled a flu pandemic as going global in 21 days, while the UK government estimates 2-4 weeks from a first hypothetical patient appearing in Hong Kong to the virus arriving in Britain. Take into account that there will probably be time lost while tests are done on the first infected individuals and maybe some sort of news blackout to prevent panic until it becomes impossible to hide. All things considered, it seems we won't have a lot of forewarning before it appears in our neighborhoods.
It's encouraging to see almost half of those polled would continue to work during a pandemic. Of course, with the health field working at half it's capacity, the government would be forced to decide who gets the limited resources available. I suppose first responders, police, military, healthcare, and infrastructure (water, power, etc) would get priority over the general population. The collapse of any one of those would lead to even greater losses. Imagine your home without electricity or water or sewer. It would quickly cease to be a refuge.
The patients who take up our typical day today would still appear; ob, emergency general surgeries, accident victims, etc. If the prognosis for pandemic flu is so dire, it would be better to treat those who are more likely to benefit from treatment. In other words, perhaps we wouldn't be treating flu victims in hospital settings. That would be a tough decision and I hope we never see it in our lifetime. But it's something I bet different governments around the world have considered in making their plans.
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no ppe, no work.
if something like that even looked like it was going to happen, i would be making plans to be away long before quarantine was imposed... in australia or new zealand.
if things did get that bad, the government would have its hands full trying to quell massive civil unrest. i imagine martial law would be imposed.
being "noble" and "doing the right thing" will be of little comfort if my body is on a barge being towed out in the gulf of mexico to be dumped with hundreds of others.