Ebola outbreak - general thread #6

[hockeymom]

So they only have two beds at NIH? Hope nobody else comes fown with it.

 

[Woe.be.gone]

Except it seems the nurses are saying they were. Butts trying to get covered right now.

They showed pics of them with their necks bare and without shields. What about diapers piling up? That, is hard to comprehend on any level. Unless things/treatments/changes were happening so fast and no one took responsibility.

 

[Ladylub]

I really dislike when they saw you have nothing to worry about. Maybe someone not knowing came into contact with one of these patients. Now they are sick and the last thing they are thinking they have is Ebola. Now they are out doing things life makes us do sometimes whether we like to or not. Hitting the store up for over the counter meds to handle tummy issues etc. They then get others sick.

 

[chlban]

than why did she even call?

i guess we could surmise she called b/c upon hearing about Nina, she became concerned. but that would beg the question, was she asked "are you symptomatic?"

if this happened, and she said i have a fever of 99.5, did this CDC person look at a chart and conclude, "hmmm, fever below threshold, so she can pack her bags?"

SMH

I find this to be the single most shocking thing about this entire situation. I have absolutely no medical background, but if someone told me they had a fever and oh, by the way, I was one of the nurses that treated Thomas Duncan, I would definitely advise against flying. But the CDC says "don't worry your temperature isn't high enough." That is truly mind bogglind and someone needs to be fired over this.

I am still not in panic mode over this, but I certainly don't think the country can afford this type of mistake being made. We may end up with mass panic as almost as dangerous threat as the disease and this is certainly not inspriing confidence.

As flu season comes into full force I can only imagine how crowded the ER's are going to become. This is going to be an interesting winter, for sure.

 

[nrdsb4]

They confirmed that the patient was one of the Yale University student researchers that helped monitor the Ebola outbreak in Liberia last month. That student was one of two who had been tested in Liberia. Both had negative results. They came back home on Oct. 11.

Maybe I'm not understanding this quote. What benefit is there to testing someone for ebola if he is not symptomatic? Of course it's going to test negative. That is no indication that the students were in the clear.

 

[Ladylub]

They showed pics of them with their necks bare and without shields. What about diapers piling up? That, is hard to comprehend on any level. Unless things/treatments/changes were happening so fast and no one took responsibility.

I personally think the nurses were on top of things that they were able to control. I do not think the hospital or CDC helped aide them when it came to removing waste.

 

[LaborDayRN]

The CDC letting her on that flight was beyond moronic. And among other reasons, here is why. Flights take time. Sometimes an hour or more even on short flights by the time you taxi, fly, land, and deboard the plane. We know from other cases on flights, that people can get more ill very fast during the flight. And then you have a situation where the patient is trapped on that flight.

So she herself could have gotten much sicker and needed immediate medical attention and then she could not get it. As well as the obvious risk to others if she started to vomit all over the plane.

I can't help but wonder if she got a pat down at security during a TSA check. TSA agents don't change their gloves between pat downs.......

 

[Hatfield]

Im still sufffering through this meeting about Ebola. LOL

One thing I am a little pleased with is a lot of questions seem focused on a possibility of invoking travel restrictions at some point. I sure hope that can happen. I honestly think some form of restrictions can really help keep this disease from spreading.

 

[Woe.be.gone]

No one has done a study of flights coming into the United States. No flights are direct from Africa, have to go through Europe first. Three thousand people a year from the three hot spots enter the U.S.
No travel ban anywhere? (I thought France and Germany banned certain flights).

 

[westie mom]

There was an Army general who came to New Orleans a few days after Hurricane Katrina who took charge and very rapidly got a chaotic situation under control. I cannot remember his name. He was an African American.

Yep, General Russel Honore...he sure went in to chaos, kicked some serious @ss, and quickly restored order to New Orleans.

I LOL last night when watching one of the talk shows when Geraldo Rivera, who was a guest, stood up and shouted that an Ebola "Czar" needed to be named immediately, and that the Czar should be none other than General Honore!! Went to sleep with a smile on my face at the mental picture of General Honore entering TPH and starting his unique brand of kicking @ss and getting immediate results from the MESS made by the combo of the CDC and Hospital Admin. His Chief Lieutenant? That brave, brave nurse who pulled back the curtain this morning!!!

As always, JMO, IMHO, and all other applicable disclaimers -

Westie Mom

 

[Isabelle]

JHRC!!! Frieden just said Ebola is not nearly as contagious as other diseases. This man is not on focus.

 

[westie mom]

So they only have two beds at NIH? Hope nobody else comes fown with it.

FYI - Emory's biocontainment unit also only has 2 beds, meaning both are full with the presence of Amber and the recovering anonymous WHO doctor...scary stuff if a bunch more of the TPH HCW turn up with Ebola.

Westie Mom

 

[Hatfield]

I just dont buy that from the CDC person. He says that if they banned people from those affected countries then they would come from somewhere else. Well, you could stop it right at the airport in those countries before they leave their own airport AND you can also require them to ID themselves before leaving their own borders and have them put on a list of names + ID.

ALSO, he is missing the big point. You can at least stop the most risk because most of them wont go out of their way to sneak through another country. Sure, we wont stop every 1 but that is absolutely NO reason then to stop NONE of them. <modsnip>

 

[oh_gal]

We may never know the truth. Has it been reported if she asked if it was OK to fly before leaving for Cleveland or was it after she was already in Cleveland and asked if it was OK to fly back to Dallas?

That's what they are reporting on the local news -- the latter.

 

[alwaysonmymind]

Yep, General Russel Honore...he sure went in to chaos, kicked some serious @ss, and quickly restored order to New Orleans.

I LOL last night when watching one of the talk shows when Geraldo Rivera, who was a guest, stood up and shouted that an Ebola "Czar" needed to be named immediately, and that the Czar should be none other than General Honore!! Went to sleep with a smile on my face at the mental picture of General Honore entering TPH and starting his unique brand of kicking @ss and getting immediate results from the MESS made by the combo of the CDC and Hospital Admin. His Chief Lieutenant? That brave, brave nurse who pulled back the curtain this morning!!!

As always, JMO, IMHO, and all other applicable disclaimers -

Westie Mom

Wow, I want to see this too!

 

[Isabelle]

Maybe I'm not understanding this quote. What benefit is there to testing someone for ebola if he is not symptomatic? Of course it's going to test negative. That is no indication that the students were in the clear.

Protocol?

 

[alwaysonmymind]

@wfaachannel8: Ebola can survive for only a few hours on dry surfaces like doorknobs and countertops. When it dries, it dies. #FactsNotFear

@ABC: Frontier Airlines says it now plans to contact passengers who were on 5 flights day after nurse with Ebola flew on plane - @David_Kerley

 

[Woe.be.gone]

Im still sufffering through this meeting about Ebola. LOL

One thing I am a little pleased with is a lot of questions seem focused on a possibility of invoking travel restrictions at some point. I sure hope that can happen. I honestly think some form of restrictions can really help keep this disease from spreading.

They're saying all flights go through Europe (but those stops may involve a short layover - not even leaving the airport). They need to ban using originating passports I guess. Are these countries where Visas are required? (Highly likely.)

Understandably complicated. Something must be done though to avoid people heading here for the best chance at treatment. The system can't support an influx of sick people.

 

[nrdsb4]

I find this to be the single most shocking thing about this entire situation. I have absolutely no medical background, but if someone told me they had a fever and oh, by the way, I was one of the nurses that treated Thomas Duncan, I would definitely advise against flying. But the CDC says "don't worry your temperature isn't high enough." That is truly mind bogglind and someone needs to be fired over this.

That's someone reading something out of a manual and not using common sense or critical thinking skills. That goes for the nurse as well, though it pains me to say it and it may offend some people. Nurses want to taken seriously for our knowledge, our skills, and our clinical judgment. This nurse, if presented with this scenario in a nursing exam, would probably have made the correct call that a nurse who has been caring for an ebola patient and is involved in self monitoring (i.e. at some level of risk) should not take public transport period, and certainly not when symptomatic.

Just as nurses are supposed to second guess any incorrect order a doctor writes rather than blindly carrying it out, we should be able to use our clinical knowledge to call out BS when we hear it. It's true, if a doctor writes out an order for a drug "give x drug y milligrams IV now," and the nurse goes ahead and gives it without acquainting herself with that drug, and it turns out it's fatal if given IV, the nurse will legally share the blame, both in lawsuits and with respect to her license even though she didn't write the order and the doctor is presumed to know what he is doing.

I feel for this nurse and pray for her recovery, but no matter what she was told, it's my opinion that she didn't use her nursing critical thinking and was in denial of her situation because she had a trip planned and didn't want to miss it.

I say that all the while NOT excusing the completely asinine advice she was given by the CDC rep.

 

[alwaysonmymind]

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