US Nurses: We Can't Handle Ebola!

Found this article on the front page of Huffington Post: US Nurses: We can't handle Ebola!

CHICAGO, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Nurses, the frontline care providers in U.S. hospitals, say they are untrained and unprepared to handle patients arriving in their hospital emergency departments infected with Ebola. Many say they have gone to hospital managers, seeking training on how to best care for patients and protect themselves and their families from contracting the deadly disease, which has so far killed at least 3,338 people in the deadliest outbreak on record.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has repeatedly said that U.S. hospitals are prepared to handle such patients. Many infectious disease experts agree with that assessment. Dr. Edward Goodman, an infectious disease doctor at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas that is now caring for the first Ebola patient to be diagnosed in this country, believed his hospital was ready.

The hospital had completed Ebola training just before Thomas Eric Duncan arrived in their emergency department on Sept. 26. But despite being told that Duncan had recently traveled from Liberia, hospital staff failed to recognize the Ebola risk and sent him home, where he spent another two days becoming sicker and more infectious. "The Texas case is a perfect example," said Micker Samios, a triage nurse in the emergency department at Medstar Washington Hospital Center, the largest hospital in the nation's capital. "In addition to not being prepared, there was a flaw in diagnostics as well as communication," Samios said.

Nurses argue that inadequate preparation could increase the chances of spreading Ebola if hospital staff fail to recognize a patient coming through their doors, or if personnel are not informed about how to properly protect themselves. At Medstar, the issue of Ebola training came up at the bargaining table during contract negotiations. "A lot of staff feel they aren't adequately trained," said Samios, whose job is to greet patients in the emergency department and do an initial assessment of their condition.

Although I didn't take the survey, I would have to totally agree. I am a nurse and I KNOW I am not prepared to handle Ebola and there has been no mention of education or training on my unit. Expecting nurses to put them selves and their families at risk and only having a gown, basic mask, and gloves for personal protective equipment? NO THANKS!

In the event this becomes an outbreak, and I for one do NOT think thin is will happen, that's when I hang up my scrubs and other junk for GOOD. There's no way I am putting my family, my kids, my hubby, and everyone else I love at risk. It's not so much about me, but I'm not doing it. It has nothing top do with pay, but has to do with principle. The US could have stopped all travel from Africa, etc. but they didn't. In fact, of anything, it seems like they wanted patients here, if you ask me. Why else would they have flown those doctors and aid workers here for treatment?

I am a darn good nurse, and I LOVE being a nurse, but this would be the proverbial line in the sand for me, and I know that I am not alone in feeling this way. I believe that a lot of nurses would quit if this starts spreading, so I hope to God they get it under control.

Sorry, not sorry.

a reply to: lovebeck

Thanks for your honesty. But, I'm sure you're not the only one to have figured that out.

I work in healthcare too. And I know the truth of what you're saying.

I'm sure your government knows as well. www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: lovebeck

How does anyone expect you to do your job if you are physically unable to do it????

As a husband of a beautiful nurse of 20+ years, I can tell you that you are not alone.

a reply to: lovebeck

These poor nurses are already overworked caring for patients with normal diseases and ailments. How do you "care" for a patient who could easily infect you and cost you your life and the lives of your family? If it's me, I'd quit at the first sign of this ebola in my hospital and even that could be too late. Not worth the risk. Period.

a reply to: lovebeck

I don't blame you for thinking this way. I would not do it either, putting my whole family at risk.

But, this leaves the questions... who WILL do it? How many will just be left uncared for? Sent home to die, just like in Africa?

a reply to: lovebeck

Just make sure they don't puke or bleed on you.
It can't be that hard.

originally posted by: ItCameFromOuterSpace
a reply to: lovebeck

Just make sure they don't puke or bleed on you.
It can't be that hard.

You still don't get how serious this is...

originally posted by: ItCameFromOuterSpace
a reply to: lovebeck

Just make sure they don't puke or bleed on you.
It can't be that hard.

lolz

Ask any nurse and she/he will say that poop/puke/pee is the cologne of the nursing industry.

a reply to: beezzer

Thank you for understanding! I, thankfully, work with kids on a pretty specific type of unit. With that said, you never know what "they" might make you take on your unit if you have open beds and the hospital is full...

My life is worth more than a career and so are the lives of my loved ones. Most of the nurses I work with have all said the same exact thing. This thing gets out of control? We're gone!

I've seen news reports from Africa with the health care workers wearing the full body haz-mat type suits with its own air supply. No way a little paper mask, some protective eye gear, gloves and a gown is going to cut it. Hospitals ARE ONLY GOING TO PAY FOR AND PROVIDE the bare minimum when it comes to personal protective equipment (PPE). I guarantee hospitals will not pay for those fancy suits....not for us nurses anyway.

originally posted by: ItCameFromOuterSpace
a reply to: lovebeck

Just make sure they don't puke or bleed on you.
It can't be that hard.

No it's more than that. Someone coughing or sneezing in your direction within several feet can infect you with ebola. You need not physically touch them at all.

originally posted by: beezzer

originally posted by: ItCameFromOuterSpace
a reply to: lovebeck

Just make sure they don't puke or bleed on you.
It can't be that hard.

lolz

Ask any nurse and she/he will say that poop/puke/pee is the cologne of the nursing industry.

Exactly...I've been puked on, pooped on, sneezed and coughed on with mass phlegm deposits flying thru the air more than I care to remember. That's why most nurses would be done. Plus, they're not going to provide those fancy suits. They don't even provide us with scrubs!!!!

a reply to: lovebeck

I agree, because my nurse friend, when I mentioned Ebola to her said,

Who?

BTW I wouldn't do it either, I don't think.

originally posted by: tinker9917
a reply to: lovebeck

I don't blame you for thinking this way. I would not do it either, putting my whole family at risk.

But, this leaves the questions... who WILL do it? How many will just be left uncared for? Sent home to die, just like in Africa?

Idk? The military?? Bring them over on the boat from the Philippines? That really happens, btw...

The health care system treats nurses, who are the BACK BONE of every hospital from sea to shining sea, like dirt, for the most part. If your a surgeon or some super specialist, you're treated like gold. They'd get those suits and they spend NO time with the patients, lol! Argh, what. BS.

originally posted by: ItCameFromOuterSpace
a reply to: lovebeck

Just make sure they don't puke or bleed on you.
It can't be that hard.

You are so wrong.

Look at instructions for lab workers who handle Ebola:

SOURCES/SPECIMENS: Blood, serum, urine, respiratory and throat secretions, semen, and organs or their homogenates from human or animal hosts Footnote 1 Footnote 2 Footnote 53.


COMMUNICABILITY: Communicable as long as blood, body fluids (includes urine, sweat, mucus, coughs, sneezes, bowel movements) or organs, contain the virus. Ebolavirus has been isolated from semen 61 to 82 days after the onset of illness, and transmission through semen has occurred 7 weeks after clinical recovery Footnote 1 Footnote 2 Footnote 59 Footnote 60.

Ebolavirus dried onto glass, polymeric silicone rubber, or painted aluminum alloy is able to survive in the dark for several hours under ambient conditions (between 20 and 250C and 30–40% relative humidity) (amount of virus reduced to 37% after 15.4 hours), but is less stable than some other viral hemorrhagic fevers (Lassa) Footnote 53.
When dried in tissue culture media onto glass and stored at 4 °C, Zaire ebolavirus survived for over 50 days Footnote 61.


PHYSICAL INACTIVATION: Ebola are moderately thermolabile and can be inactivated by heating for 30 minutes to 60 minutes at 60°C (140 degrees F), boiling for 5 minutes, or gamma irradiation (1.2 x106 rads to 1.27 x106 rads) combined with 1% glutaraldehyde Footnote 10 Footnote 48 Footnote 50

www.phac-aspc.gc.ca...

So nurses can be exposed from sweat, sneezes, coughs, urine, feces, vomit
that land anywhere on the skin, not just hands or inhaled

On Chris Matthews show a CDC representative did not deny that if an Ebola patient
sweats on an arm rest and seat on an airplane
the next person who sits there or puts their arm on the rest could be exposed.

originally posted by: Stormdancer777
a reply to: lovebeck

I agree, because my nurse friend, when I mentioned Ebola to her said,

Who?

Omg...this made me lol. But, I'm not surprised. After being at the bedside for 12-13 hours, most of us go home me and drink, take a bath, or go to sleep...we're not much for the news.

a reply to: lovebeck

I don't blame any of you. A saying on FB the other day said,"Nurses are there to keep the doctors from killing you."

a reply to: grandmakdw

Great info! Thanks for this!

a reply to: lovebeck

I told her to google it and she text me back saying there was nothing to worry about, obviously she doesn't read ATS, lol

originally posted by: judydawg
a reply to: lovebeck

I don't blame any of you. A saying on FB the other day said,"Nurses are there to keep the doctors from killing you."

If the public knew how completelytrue that statement really is....

a reply to: Stormdancer777

Wow. I've worked with a few of those types...don't know how they made it thru school and passed their boards!