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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.
I'd make a mask out of a pillow case or sheet and live dangerously and show up and work. If it's that desparate, I'll show up. I have no kids or family to worry about, am in great health with no pre-existing problems, and I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I didn't find a way to help.
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
Thank you for a moment of clarity which I really needed. I am normally very calm about disaster, puddles of guts, spiders crawling up my arm, etc. But this is a new feeling for me. This is kind of giving me pause and I can feel my nerves starting to pluck like piano wires deep down.
However, I can't even let myself fall victim to utter panic; I'm just not wired that way. I have always been wired to be proactive and calm, and as everything around me gets more stressful, I'm more galvanized to set up the goals and knock 'em down. I'm just not good at feeling helpless. I guess I'm getting a tiny taste of that now. I will adapt, though, I'm sure.
Yes, I would be happy to see this not escalate. I'm not sure that this is what will happen, though. I'm preparing and planning accordingly at home. I think I'll call my mother and talk to her about this.
And like everyone is saying, when they run out of PPE, I don't know what I can do or what I'd want to do. I want to stay healthy and away from the danger like everyone else.
If they run out of PPE, I may have to opt out myself. What people don't understand is that this is a job. It does not mean that nurses do not care about our patients. But, I did not sign up to die early. This would be an ethical dilemma for me, for sure.
This is a no-brainer for me: not working during a pandemic during which there is high mortality and no personal protection. Sorry, i'd have to stay home and take care of my disabled husband and mentally handicapped son. I'll have my own little clinic going there.
What would the government do, put us in jail for not going to work? There aren't *enough* prisons to house them all.
There is a difference between opting out because it is going to be a "rough day", and opting out because there are not enough supplies to maintain safety. If you are saying that nurses who refuse to sacrifice their life and bodies do not deserve to be nurses, well then there are very very few that would meet your criteria. I think it was Florence Nightengale whose quote begins "the martyr sacrifices themselves entirely in vain..."
:yeah:It's this "martyr" mentality that has done bad things to the nursing profession. Drag all the managers and nursing administration out and have them work. I just know I will not be showing up unless I have adequate PPE and have been vaccinated, if one is available.
In addition to worrying about my grandma, my mom, and my own health, I can't help but worry about who I'd be taking care of at the time. I've grown to care for many of the residents where my grandma is. If I was there working, it would be a personal and ethical dilemma for me on top of everything else. If I were to make that decision to leave, it wouldn't be lightly. Like I said earlier, for me there are a lot of shades of gray about it. But leaving, I fear, would have to be a black or white thing - you can't sorta be home, or partially be at work, and no PPE is 100%, 100% of the time. If you're there, you're going to be up to your eyeballs in it, and that includes the swine flu and everything else, and you'll be there until you're relieved.
I do know that when we had a bad ice storm up here just a few months ago, nobody could get in or out of the home. My dad was trying to ferry people in and out, but he was stuck there along with the staff because the tiny mountain roads were simply impassable. The regular supply truck was even stranded, which meant they were out of stuff like wipes and diapers. Yeah - not fun. When I got up there finally after about a week, the staff was frazzled beyond imagination, the patients were cranky, they were out of everything (yes, electricity too). And that was just for an ice storm, not a disease epidemic.
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
I'd make a mask out of a pillow case or sheet and live dangerously and show up and work. If it's that desparate, I'll show up. I have no kids or family to worry about, am in great health with no pre-existing problems, and I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I didn't find a way to help.
I'd be right there alongside ya, Tweety. Although I have an older sister and grandkids, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't pitch in and help out where I'm needed, health problems or no. I've already told my family that if this swine-flu thing does turn out to be the big kahuna, that they will have to hunker down and wait things out because I'll be out there taking care of those who can't take care of themselves. There's no martyrdom in that.......I'm just a nurse!
:yeah:It's this "martyr" mentality that has done bad things to the nursing profession. Drag all the managers and nursing administration out and have them work. I just know I will not be showing up unless I have adequate PPE and have been vaccinated, if one is available.
I agree regarding the managers and administration, they should be out there just as much as anyone else. I disagree about the "martyr mentality." I can completely understand if someone isn't willing to (potentially) sacrifice themselves (which is why I said I don't think -I- would deserve the job on a good day if -I- weren't willing to work on the bad) but I think calling it a "martyr mentality" demeans the sacrifices that others have made in the past. Sometimes there is no more meaning, no greater nobility, then just 'doing your job,' in an impossible situation, doing the best you can even at the greatest risk. There's no shame in protecting yourself or your family in the same situation, it's just a matter of what you can live with, but I don't feel it's justified to put negative connotations on something that could not be -more- selfless.
I think my response is a bit too sharp, but after a couple rewrites, I don't know how to improve it. This topic (and some of the responses) made me think of 9/11. I was a firefighter in Philadelphia then, and I knew a few guys with FDNY who died that day. I can't -imagine- that if I were with FDNY 10 Truck that day, the Rescue, or anything else... I would have been doing anything other then climbing stairs. Even knowing that building was going to come down. I wasn't there, so it wasn't my choice to make, but they did. And with role models like that, with those shoes to fill .. I can't imagine -not- going into a situation where I could do some good, no matter what the cost. "We do these things, that others may live." (it's the motto of the Air Force Pararescue. I've never been, but I heard it and it stuck with me.)
I apologize for the possibly sanctimonious attitude, there is no insult intended to anyone, regardless of what they'd do--it's an individual decision.
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
:yeah:It's this "martyr" mentality that has done bad things to the nursing profession. Drag all the managers and nursing administration out and have them work. I just know I will not be showing up unless I have adequate PPE and have been vaccinated, if one is available.
I agree with you. I am sorely disappointed with my job right now. I live in New York and work 2-3 miles away from the school that is directly affected with swine flu. I work in a clinic, and heard that there are two patients in the ER that are being treated for this right now. While we did get an email memo, no one from infection control called a general meeting with the nurses and physicians to further update us and share how we can protect ourselves and our families in case it does become pandemic.
We are not animals. And most of us choose not to be martyrs (and have a right not to be). At least share with us how we can be protected and share what contigency plans will be made to help us. I mean, they are saying on television that we have to remain home in order to not expose others, but who do we call? How can we get help? I mean, there will not be housecalls, I am sure, so, enlighten us! If they can't do that, I can't see risking my life!
I would not work. Not a single co worker in the er i work in said they would come in. I have been asking all of them the last couple of days. By the way single or family no difference. Im single and surely not going to risk my life for my job. I had enough of that when i was a Marine.
If you could see my hospitals ER schedule, you wont find my name on it in the near future.
To the brave or foolish who will work May god bless you!
Besides I believe once if ones say that they would continue to work see a co-worker die, they will not show up no matter what they say in a online poll.
I was with the Marines as a Corpsman. I would work. I would not hesitate. The greatest fear here is the fear that the combined news agencies are so dramatically trying to drum up for their ratings and their jobs. I refuse to live in or respond to trumped up fears from the news agencies. Semper Fi
Tweety, BSN, RN
36,273 Posts
I'd make a mask out of a pillow case or sheet and live dangerously and show up and work. If it's that desparate, I'll show up. I have no kids or family to worry about, am in great health with no pre-existing problems, and I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I didn't find a way to help.