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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.
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?
First of all, I'm not inexperienced or naive enough to believe the government will take care of anything. I've been an adult for 35 years, and I know the goverment talks a much better game than it ever plays.
Like any good emergency responder, which I've been before nursing, I look to my own saftey first.......can't help anyone else if you're a Pt too. So, no PPE, then no me at work.
Then it comes down to practicalities. Will going to work help or hinder getting food for my family? Do I have enough ammunition to fight off the other desperate people looting the grocery stores in order to get my share?
I do think that as a professional, I have an obligation to be prepared and to have my family prepared so I can do my job in a crisis. That's the bottom line.
I am glad for you that you're so dedicated that you would walk away from whatever family/loved ones you have that may need you at home.
I, however, am not.
Maybe you don't have a family? No children?
I think that to suggest that those who would choose to come in to work must not have children or loved ones is a slap in the face!
I have a son, and grandchildren - and would still go to work. Not in spite of them, but because of them. I raised my son to believe in working for the common good, and that some things were more important than himself. That's why immediately after 9/11 he quit his job and enlisted to serve his country,putting his life on the line. How could I look him in the face if I did any less?
As for the Flu epidemic of the early 1900s - have you ever talked to someone who had actually been through it? I have. My grandmother had a young family at the time and told of my grandfather (a mild mannered man when I knew him) having to go out and physically drag a physician to their home to treat the children. Think it will be any different next time around?
After assuring that my wife and children were all right
I probably would go play golf
Tom, do you ever get mad? You are probably one of the most laidback people on here when it comes to answering posts. Knew I could count on you for a chuckle!
I wonder if the gov't has thought about daycare. Lots of working people depend on daycare to watch their kids so they can work. During a pandemic, daycares would likely close down. After all, who would want to expose their kids to the flu at daycare? Even a hospital based daycare may not inspire confidence.
Specializes in OB, critical care, hospice, farm/industr.
I have the feeling if bird flu ever really got going it wouldn't be likr the Epidemic of 1918. It would be more like the Black Death in the 1300's. I think things would collapse.
I am a nursing student. What are the "rules" for this type of situation? If you refuse to report to work during a pandemic can your license be revoked? I'm afraid enough of all the HA-MRSA I'll be exposed to, much less bird-flu outbreaks! I am so afraid of dragging all this stuff home to my children. Anyone else worry about that?
By the time it is recognized that there is a pandemic most of us will already have been exposed inadvertantly through our jobs. By the time it is realized that there is a problem things will be in bad shape.
I have a friend who was working in the ER at the time of SARS and she caught it. Remember how long it took for anyone to admit there was a problem and something should be done about it?
If I am alive and can work I will work in what ever capacity I am most needed.
I am a nursing student. What are the "rules" for this type of situation? If you refuse to report to work during a pandemic can your license be revoked? I'm afraid enough of all the HA-MRSA I'll be exposed to, much less bird-flu outbreaks! I am so afraid of dragging all this stuff home to my children. Anyone else worry about that?
TPTB, as in the CDC and HHS, fully expect that most of us are not going to work. They are aware that we will not have adequate PPE to get thru even one pandemic wave. They know this beforehand. They will not admit to it publicly, but they do know it.
Since probably fewer than 50% of us right now are agreeing to seasonal flu injection, they can extrapolate such data into a projection of just how few of us would be willing to risk being injected with what will amount to an untried H5N1 vaccine. And we will not be the first in line for any vaccine anyway. And, we know also that there will be no vaccine for at least 4 to 6 months or more into the pandemic.
And forget being offered Tamiflu as there is not enough for prophylaxis now, and there will be even less later.
They have given up on us, nurses. The planning is just words on paper mostly designed to buy time. If they wanted to reach us as a group as they have with other stakeholders, and brainstorm solutions with us, they could have done so. They still could. Nurses are practical people. We are pros at problem solving. What we do, frequently makes a difference in terms of patient survival and outcomes.
But most of all, they have given up on our people, those we have all been trained to care for, because they have deemed it as an impossible task.
Revoke your nursing license? I think not.
They will be profoundly blessed to have any nurses left to care for the sick when this is over, and they know that too.
No one is going to punish you for taking care of your family first.
No, # 1 because I have young children and adult family members that i support and they all that need me. # 2 because of what happened and is happening to world trade center disaster volunteers.
tddowney
162 Posts
First of all, I'm not inexperienced or naive enough to believe the government will take care of anything. I've been an adult for 35 years, and I know the goverment talks a much better game than it ever plays.
Like any good emergency responder, which I've been before nursing, I look to my own saftey first.......can't help anyone else if you're a Pt too. So, no PPE, then no me at work.
Then it comes down to practicalities. Will going to work help or hinder getting food for my family? Do I have enough ammunition to fight off the other desperate people looting the grocery stores in order to get my share?
I do think that as a professional, I have an obligation to be prepared and to have my family prepared so I can do my job in a crisis. That's the bottom line.