Will you work during a Pandemic?

Nurses COVID

Published

  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?

No, I wouldn't go.

I do well to maintain working on the job I have.

I have alot of foot problems, and just don't feel I would really be of much use

elsewhere other than where I'm at now.

My best contribution would probably be to stay on my current job and continue working there with the population of people I'm already caring for.

And the type people I work with are prone to illnesses of that type anyway

so I'm sure I'd have my hands full right where I'm working right now.

Specializes in acute care and geriatric.
hi ac!

it's good to see your post, and know that you're ready and able to join your colleagues at work. be sure to wear an n95 mask/respirator that is properly fitted (air tight), when seeing coughing, sneezing people, or anyone exposed to someone who had a flu-like illness. did you see that 3 schools in queens, ny closed, due to more than half the students out ill, and the asst. principal at one of them is on a ventilator?

as i wrote: with the proper infection control supplies...

i can't imagine a facility in the us allowing a nurse to bring her sick mom to work! it's great to live and work among empathetic people. crisis can bring out the best (and worst) in us.

you do what you gotta do, btw, she didnt ask, she informed them, if they want her they get her mom too as she is responsible for her and has no other arrangements esp in times of crisis, if the facility objected they had their chance...but this way they had her 24-7 and she was a great help!!

my son and his pregnant wife are in new york, on his business trip (i couldn't talk him out of it). i'm very worried about who's on their flight going back to los angeles. i'm going to warn him about the situation and try to get him to rent a car to go to pittsburgh, their weekend stop to see his clients, before they head for home sunday....:stone

life must go on, i dont think its really a problem visiting ny or they would have quarantined the place, but you must be careful where ever you are.

what are the stats in israel, as far as number of cases, severe cases, etc.?

last i heard- 3 mild cases that were hospitalized immediately but we got the usual viruses abounding, my son had 101 fever yesterday etc. (not the swine flu...he is bettr and left for school on his own volition this morning)/color]

i'm still symptomatic with possible h1n1, having finished a 5 day course of tamiflu and 7 days on doxycycline, after a negative test for it on day 2. the doctor said the test isn't positive until day 4 or 5, but tamiflu needs to be started within 48 hours of becoming symptomatic.the coughing began after the meds were finished....... my daughter and her children celebrated mother's day without me, but brought flowers and food with a great musical card to my front doorstep. it's been one heck of a month, so far.

so sorry to hear, i guess mothers day could be postphoned and celebrated when mother is better, try not to pass it along, how did you get sick?

please let us know what the israeli doctors are saying.

prevention, caution, early diagnosis, bedrest, fluids, same meds as you quoted, and lots of prayer!!! we are more concerned about traffic accidents here, unfortunately we lost 22 people last week and in our small country that is a lot!!!! the flu is a concern, but it gets lost in other problems. fortunately we are an optimistic country so we look at the glass half full- and turn to g-d for salvation ( i know it sounds trite, but its true)

best regards to you,

lois

may we share in good news and not be tested!!

Specializes in Acute care, LTC, Med/surg.

I suspect most of the people who voted "yes" are thinking of the patients."If I don't go, who will?"

But no PPE? I'm compassionate but not suicidal. My immune system is pretty good but working under those conditions without protection would be guaranteed infection. I have a family who needs me. Can't do it!

Specializes in Aged care.

Not without PPE- my kids need me too much!

in reading the posts i keep seeing in my minds eye the ER, PEDS, ICU, MATERNITY, OR, and CCU w/o nurses ... i wouldn't want to and i would be washing my hands like crazy, but i would have to go...

I saw a post on the forum about 6 months ago and decided to start buying N95s and stocking up with bleach also, and yes I would help regardless of government mandates or whatever. I did not get into this profession to not help but I will protect myself even if it takes buying the gear myself.

Specializes in Trauma/Surgery Floor.

I'm curious to know how Katrina nurses/HCW's improvised during the hurricane and the subsequent brouhaha. Maybe we could learn something from them.

I would report to work definitely. I agree with the above poster which stated they didn't get into the profession and not help. Don't we have an ethical obligation? I have a family and I would do whatever it takes to protect them. However, if I have the skill/knowledge to (safely) assist during a pandemic, I would do so; my family has adequate support and would be fine.

Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.
My heart tells me that I would definately work during a Pandemic, Hello, I am a nurse! I care about people, sick, dying people!!! However, I had a kidney transplant 21 months ago and immunosuppressed, so I am unsure, but only because of this issue. I hope I don't have to find out, but if I do, I guess I will decide then. I think I would. I am a Christian, and I trust that the Lord would protect me, and if not, well I am going to die sometime anyway, why not helping another person?

You are very brave to offer yourself up immediately. Remember, however that exhaustion will stop the first responders from continuing to work, and you'll be needed afterward, even more. If you caught the flu at work (which would be more likely in your still recuperating state), not only would the gift of your transplanted kidney have been for naught, but then you'd be a liability for your colleagues, who would then have to look after you!

You can help on the 'phone, getting things ordered, and communicating your team's needs to others. Remember that God helps those who help themselves! Use your energy wisely, take your meds, and keep things going from a distance at first. Cook a casserole for your colleagues and have it taken to them by someone with better immunity! Then when their energy is depleted, you'll be with the fresher 3rd or 4th wave of responders. :nurse:

Specializes in Labor & Delivery.
OK, I think that WAY too many people have watched the Mad Max films. Take a look at the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918. This is a pretty good model for a worst-case pandemic. Transmission rates of up to 50%. Mortality rates of 2-20%. Total dead worldwide 50-100 million. And yet we didn't have lawless bands of nomads wandering across some post-apocalyptic wasteland. Read the wikipedia article if you want details.

A pandemic on the order of 1918 would be bad, yes. It would certainly have far reaching consequences on the economy. But get a grip people - Lord Humungus is not coming for your oil.

I think in this day and time where people have more, they are unable to do with less. In 1918 life was a matter of survival still. There was no technology, cell phones, all of the comforts of daily life we have now and I think that made people able to adapt better to crisis. Now with high rates of crime, people unable to live off the land, dependence on technology, that if the same pandemic of 1918 occured it would have far more devastating concequences (sp?). You see what happened in New Orleans. The public disorder caused as much devastation as the natural disaster. Also in 1918 transmission was probably decreased because people were not living in huge cities or in such close proximity as they are now. Initially I wasnt terribly concerned about the effects of this flu strain. Now i'm really starting to worry more.

Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.
I saw a post on the forum about 6 months ago and decided to start buying N95s and stocking up with bleach also, and yes I would help regardless of government mandates or whatever. I did not get into this profession to not help but I will protect myself even if it takes buying the gear myself.

Smart moves. I had been told some years ago, that N95 masks could be reused, but the information given by CDC says otherwise now, so it's possible that your facility may have underordered...... for normal circumstances, not this situation. The CDC said too, that the regular surgical style masks (with crosswise pleats) are appropriate to stop droplets from patients exhalations, (if changed frequently, so moisture within it doesn't propel those infectious organisms faster). The needs of caregivers are more to filter the organisms and keep them from workers' resp. tracts, hence the necessity of a close fit.

It would be best if you could store water in portable containers necessary to dilate the bleach, 1 part to 10 of water. Remember that once diluted, the activity of that solution is only good for 24 hours, ideally. :)

Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.

May we share in good news and not be tested!!

Dear AC: From your computer to G-d's......

I'm sort of better now, and Sunday my daughter provided quite a feast, which I enjoyed! I made a followup visit to the clinic yesterday, and was assured that I'm not contagious, but the cough continues. I stay at home, still, as much as possible.

Our insurance companies are impossible here! I must "do battle" with one today, as they refuse to fill my prescriptions for the cough and proton pump inhibitor (even though they've already covered the latter once, and I chose them because they said that was covered). It's a greedy system that must be curbed!

My son and his wife are back in Los Angeles now, and are well, thank G-d.

Our newspapers carried nothing about the auto accident that killed 22 people in Israel. How dreadful! I'm sorry to hear of such senseless pain and loss, and hope that something was rectified so it won't be likely to happen again.

President Barack Obama's meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu was viewed as a positive move, here. I hope things can be dealt with more in meetings such as that, rather than warfare.

Is your son with fever the same one who raised spirits in the bomb shelters?

Please give that brave guy my regards.

Lois

Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.
I think in this day and time where people have more, they are unable to do with less.

I think it's more like we would miss them, but we will do what we have to do.....

"In 1918 life was a matter of survival still." Is it really that much different survival-wise, now?

"There was no technology," At least they knew the value of handwashing, then.

"we adapt better to crisis" {without the comforts we have now}. Look at the capability of our military to adapt in foreign, desperate cultures!

"if the same pandemic of 1918 occured it would have far more devastating concequences" Look at the current issue of Newsweek with the ugly pig's snout on its cover! The drawings are excellent, and describe circumstances of the type of organisms involved in today and tomorrow's pandemic that made my hair rise. Rather than one organism, there are several combined to challenge our age's technology (and I don't mean cell 'phones).

"You see what happened in New Orleans. The public disorder caused as much devastation as the natural disaster."

The disorder that crippled relief efforts was more damaging, due to the stupid burocracy's inability to cope and curtail.

Also in 1918 transmission was probably decreased because people were not living in huge cities or in such close proximity as they are now. Did you see "Slumdog millionaire", visit New York City, and other extremely crowded cities here? At least they knew enough or hadn't transportation to leave their homes/shacks, in 1918......

Initially I wasnt terribly concerned about the effects of this flu strain. Now i'm really starting to worry more.

Be concerned, be very concerned, in a way that motivates initiative, willingness to protect yourselves while helping others, and faith that "these times will pass", hopefully with as little loss of life as possible.

We survived the polio pandemic, (yet unfortunately, those who had it are now adversely affected by it in their later years) and we'll survive this!:thnkg:

+ Add a Comment