Posted on 10/25/2014 7:11:56 AM PDT by GrandJediMasterYoda
Bellevue staffers call-in ‘sick’ after Ebola patient arrives
By Jamie Schram and Larry Celona
An extraordinary number of Bellevue Hospital staffers called in sick on Friday rather than treat the city’s first Ebola patient — and those who showed up were terrified to enter his isolation chamber, sources told The Post. “The nurses on the floor are miserable with a ‘why me?’ attitude, scared to death and overworked because all their co-workers called out sick,” one source said. “One nurse even went as far as to pretend she was having a stroke to get out of working there, but once they cleared her in the ER they sent her back up,” the source added.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
We deal with infectious disease in hospitals every day. TB, influenza, HepB, Aids. We are used to using normal contact, fluid and respiratory precautions. there are only a handful of diseases out there that require the kind of level 4 biohazard precautions of Ebola, and we don’t see them in the US, thank God. And if we just put in place 1 step, a Travel Ban on the epidemic area, that would prevent almost all cases from getting to the US at this time, and t hose that did leak in could be sent to the 4 special unit hospitals we have.
There needs to be separate treatment facilities for these patients..isolation from a big fixed hospital. There is just too many people exposed in a normal hospital environment. Why would a huge hospital expose themselves to this issue? Certainly the shareholders and employees are not interested in the risk. Look at what has happened the Presby in Dallas..disaster.
Would it not be ironic if Obama got Ebola from hugging the nurse.
There are four hospitals set up to deal with a disease like Ebola and they do very well. They’ve got the proper environment, equipment, specialists, and training. They’ve never had a worker get sick. They’ve saved 100% of their patients.
WHY aren’t all Ebola-confirmed cases sent to these places?! WHY are they even allowing the locals to deal with it? Dallas was a freaking disaster. They lost the patient and infected two staff members. Duncan may have died already, but the nurses never would been exposed had they just sent him to the hospitals that are ready to deal with it.
I am so naive and stupid. I honestly believed that they’d learned their lesson after Dallas and that they’d finally take this seriously.
“No nurses called in at the hospital in Dallas.”
This isn’t true. The Doc at the Dallas press conf specifically said they couldn’t open their ER because they lack the staff to do so, and this when only 18 hospital employees were on observation.
Even if ALL 18 of those employees were ER employees, not likely, that still would be a small fraction of a 600 bed hospital’s ER staff.
If they are properly trained in infection control, they should be able to handle ANY Ebola-like disease.
Over the last decade, prior to the Ebola outbreak, there have been 5 cases of hemorrhagic fever diseases in the US. One of them was Marburg, Ebola's deadlier sister. The staff taking care of the Marburg patient did not know she had Marburg--yet they managed to take care of her without infecting themselves.
If staff who do not know what they are working with can successfully care for a patient without infecting themselves, then why can't people who are forewarned about the disease do the same?
CDC case report of Marburg patient.
The Marburg patient's story in her own words.
Professionals trained to handle infectious disease *should* be able to deal with such a disease. Unfortunately, I think part of the problem is that they overreact because Ebola has been so hyped in the news... in Dallas, they were piling on the PPE, and probably infected themselves while taking it off--those are mistakes I would expect from someone who is poorly trained.
The mayor of Dallas said no one called in sick, maybe he just mean lately.
Most of those diseases you mentioned are way more contagious than Ebola--if you can handle patients who have those diseases without infecting yourself, you should be able to handle Ebola patients. The reason the extra precautions are taken with Ebola is not because the disease is so contagious--it is not--but because the stakes are so high if someone makes a mistake and catches it.
I think part of the problem in Dallas was that the nurses saw so much hype about Ebola that they think it's some kind of supernatural monster--like the Andromeda Strain--and not a natural biological pathogen. So they overreacted, put on so much PPE that they could not work effectively and had difficulty removing it without propelling infectious debris from the PPE into their faces. And it wasn't until the CDC team arrived when the situation was improved.
When I have to deal with pathogens, I wear scrubs, lab coat, booties, bonnet, goggles, surgical mask, and double gloves. What do you wear?
“I hate to say it, but it is NOT a strong argument for state’s rights and autonomy when private and state hospitals are incapable of caring for a patient with such a disease unless the experts from the federal government come to take care of things for them. It’s just like Katrina and New Orleans again.”
I disagree. These hospitals and their state governments are taking their lead from the Feds and THAT has led to the amazingly inept response.
If 50 states were dealing with this problem, these “laboratories of Democracy” would soon yield winning formulas that would quickly be adopted by other States.
How long do you think it’s going to take before other States adopt NY/NJ’s mandatory quarantine at airports?
Texas has set up two Ebola centers to deal with their next cases. If they have more cases, and that model works, it’ll be adopted by more states.
South Carolina has mobilized an Ebola Response Preparedness plan that will essentially take the lead over every state health resource (facility and licenses) to coordinate a response.
There is a place in a federal system for a govt response. The Constitution clearly gives the feds power over our border. An effective ban of potential cases at the border would enhance the states rights of a federal model.
What we see now is the result of the current bastardized statist concept: an inept fedgov combined with a paralyzed and powerless state response which has so far been, more or less, to defer to the Feds.
“The mayor of Dallas said no one called in sick, maybe he just mean lately.”
That’s why they whisked that doc away from the pressor a few Sundays ago.
He was being far too honest about what was happening.
I know right! If you think about it, he’s taking the word of the doctors that she is safe. What if they are mistaken?
Not naive and stupid, the best precursor of future behavior is past behavior...
The federal government is so PC, bloated and leviathan like, it's difficult to get it pointed in the right direction...
There are many examples of the government response to disasters getting it wrong at first or slow to act...
Once whatever issue starts to effect them politically, (votes) hell or high water won't stop them from moving in the right direction...whatever the cost...
If Ebola gets out of control no matter who is in control of our federal government they will pay at the polls...
Dems know this and already are up against the wall politically because of Obama...
Look at what Christie and Coumuo are doing in the NJ/NY...
They actually did something (21 day quarantine) without the blown kiss from Obama...
Blaming Nina Pham for contracting ebola after she followed CDC protocol certainly didn’t go over well with Bellevue staff, and most people wouldn’t consider getting to meet the President after getting out of quarantine a fair consolation prize.
Selfish people never would want that. People who care about others would be more than willing to do that.
We have become a nation of selfish people.
By all means, go volunteer. You can be used.
Its not what you wear, its how you take it off. Medical personnel that are highly trained are infecting themselves in the hot zone regularly. If you are so bullet proof, why don’t you go over there and show em how its done.
While Ebola is not highly contagious, it is INCREADIBLY infectious. 1to 10 virus particles is enough to infect you if it comes in contact with a break in skin or mucous membranes. Not many diseases can match that, and THATS why the need for higher level protection when dealing with it.
Absolutely. And the consequences for exposure are immediate and severe. Most of the things we use PPE for here are treatable and non fatal. And Ebola becomes highly contagious in the later stages when we are likely to be exposed to it. It is also quite different to work with specimens in a controlled lab setting than in the patient care arena where patients to unpredictable things, particularly as the brain becomes affected
I’d like to see all the armchair quarterbacks and folks who think this is no big deal back up their mouths with their actions....
And two of them caught Ebola.
You’re using the u-word like it’s a good thing.
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