Will you work during a Pandemic?

Nurses COVID

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  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?

Specializes in PACU, ED.

Wow, I guess I was a bit naive. I am amazed at the numbers who would stay home w/ or w/o PPE. Nurses rank top in trusted professions. I imagine that would fall quickly if half the nursing population refused to work during a pandemic. Suppose the docs, RTs, aides, and housekeeping also stayed home. Police and firefighters also have families. I doubt paramedics or ambulance crews would want to respond to 911 calls for respiratory illness. That paints a pretty bleak picture.

I would work. I do have kids and 1.2 grandkids. I would re-use my mask and wash my hands religiously. I would take the flu shot when it became available and do the best I could for my patients.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
wow, i guess i was a bit naive. i am amazed at the numbers who would stay home w/ or w/o ppe. nurses rank top in trusted professions. i imagine that would fall quickly if half the nursing population refused to work during a pandemic. suppose the docs, rts, aides, and housekeeping also stayed home. police and firefighters also have families. i doubt paramedics or ambulance crews would want to respond to 911 calls for respiratory illness. that paints a pretty bleak picture.

i would work. i do have kids and 1.2 grandkids. i would re-use my mask and wash my hands religiously. i would take the flu shot when it became available and do the best i could for my patients.

i rather think that during a pandemic, housekeeping will be among the first to fail to show up. public transportation will suffer, and most of the housekeeping staff at our institution depend upon it to get to work. doctors may or may not show up -- but how much help will they be? "you've got the flu, sir." ok -- do you see them spending their time turning, suctioning, etc.? police and firefighters are among first responders. their ranks will be decimated early on. and as far as the woman who said she cannot afford to stay home from work for the many months of a pandemic -- what makes her think she'll get paid if she does go to work? society's infrastructure will fail, and we'll be back to a barter economy in just about as much time as it takes for 1/3 of the bankers, accountants, payroll personnel, sanitation workers, power plant workers and retail clerks to fall ill. i'm pretty sure there won't be many out there to evict her from her home if she doesn't pay her bills -- might not be anyone around to credit her account if she does, either!

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Wow, I guess I was a bit naive. I am amazed at the numbers who would stay home w/ or w/o PPE. Nurses rank top in trusted professions. I imagine that would fall quickly if half the nursing population refused to work during a pandemic.
No offense, but losing the public's trust is the least of my concerns.
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i rather think that during a pandemic, housekeeping will be among the first to fail to show up. public transportation will suffer, and most of the housekeeping staff at our institution depend upon it to get to work. doctors may or may not show up -- but how much help will they be? "you've got the flu, sir." ok -- do you see them spending their time turning, suctioning, etc.? police and firefighters are among first responders. their ranks will be decimated early on. and as far as the woman who said she cannot afford to stay home from work for the many months of a pandemic -- what makes her think she'll get paid if she does go to work? society's infrastructure will fail, and we'll be back to a barter economy in just about as much time as it takes for 1/3 of the bankers, accountants, payroll personnel, sanitation workers, power plant workers and retail clerks to fall ill. i'm pretty sure there won't be many out there to evict her from her home if she doesn't pay her bills -- might not be anyone around to credit her account if she does, either!

nonperishable food, flu masks, and ammunition (depending on how long it goes, how hungry the sheep get, and how badly the law enforcement infrastructure is decimated) will be worth way more than money in a real pandemic. you saw the la riots, or how quickly the looting started after katrina? now imagine welfare checks stopped three months ago and all the stores are empty.

spend $500 now, stick it in the basement, and you will be rich beyond belief if it comes to that. problem is how do you interact to trade for things and how do you keep the people you trade with from following you home to get the rest of it.

collecting a paycheck will be the least of your worries. unless we can figure out a way to eat paper.

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Absolutely NOT... With or without proper PPE.

I would definitely be at home taking care of my kids.

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Specializes in SICU.
Wow, I guess I was a bit naive. I am amazed at the numbers who would stay home w/ or w/o PPE. Nurses rank top in trusted professions. I imagine that would fall quickly if half the nursing population refused to work during a pandemic. Suppose the docs, RTs, aides, and housekeeping also stayed home. Police and firefighters also have families. I doubt paramedics or ambulance crews would want to respond to 911 calls for respiratory illness. That paints a pretty bleak picture.

I would work. I do have kids and 1.2 grandkids. I would re-use my mask and wash my hands religiously. I would take the flu shot when it became available and do the best I could for my patients.

That paints a pretty bleak picture because it IS a pretty bleak picture. I'm not trying to be mean when I say that you ought to do a bit of research, because the only thing your reused mask and religious handwashing is going to get you is either sick or dead. :o

If there is a pandemic, I will be at my house with my family.

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Specializes in PACU, ED.

Dead hiding at home or dead helping in the fight. It's a personal choice that everyone will have to make. If the flu mutates as this thread assumes, there will be no safe place other than in a HEPA filtered environment and you'd have to get in before folks started dropping like flies.

By the way SICU queen, said in like spirit, you may want to do some research on flu transmission. It's by droplet and contact. Healthcare was dealing with those modes long before the advent of single use masks.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.

After assuring that my wife and children were all right

I probably would go play golf

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Specializes in SICU.
Dead hiding at home or dead helping in the fight. It's a personal choice that everyone will have to make. If the flu mutates as this thread assumes, there will be no safe place other than in a HEPA filtered environment and you'd have to get in before folks started dropping like flies.

By the way SICU queen, said in like spirit, you may want to do some research on flu transmission. It's by droplet and contact. Healthcare was dealing with those modes long before the advent of single use masks.

I've done plenty of research, and I'm well aware of how flu is transmitted, thanks. ;)

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Specializes in Informatics.

I would totally show up for my current job, but that's because I have no pt contact.

If my government expects me to put my life in extreme jeopardy to save lives I can only tell them "Been there, done that, got the t-shirt (and medals) to prove it. Now leave me alone and let me take care of my family this time."

They'll "take care of me".

Pshaw!

/I'm getting too old for that crap, anyway. :trout:

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......... Suppose the docs, RTs, aides, and housekeeping also stayed home. Police and firefighters also have families. I doubt paramedics or ambulance crews would want to respond to 911 calls for respiratory illness. That paints a pretty bleak picture.

..............

All of those professions will have huge absenteeism, on top of the percentage of them that goes down with the flu.

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Dead hiding at home or dead helping in the fight. It's a personal choice that everyone will have to make. If the flu mutates as this thread assumes, there will be no safe place other than in a HEPA filtered environment and you'd have to get in before folks started dropping like flies.

By the way SICU queen, said in like spirit, you may want to do some research on flu transmission. It's by droplet and contact. Healthcare was dealing with those modes long before the advent of single use masks.

Hiding at home takes away all of the contact and almost all of the droplet. Your odds are much better there than they are out in public, and WAY better than in a hospital.

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