US Nurses: We Can't Handle Ebola!

a reply to: diggindirt
You know, I've thought about people bailing out of Dallas like these folks you're talking about. Can you blame them, if they have the means?

This whole scenario could hit Dallas's economy and tourism in a terrible way. Seriously, if you'd been planning to visit there, would YOU go right now? I know I wouldn't. I wonder how many people feel that way, who WERE planning to head there in the near future. The place could become a shell of it's former self if the authorities don't step up their game!

a reply to: lovebeck

Scary. I was on a flight this week, and when the flight attendants came to pick up garbage from drinks and snacks, they were wearing gloves. I have NEVER seen that. I felt awful for them because these people do not make a lot of money, and they are coming into contact with thousands of people every day. I have to wonder if plastic gloves are going to protect them at all.

a reply to: grandmakdw

Ebola are moderately thermolabile and can be inactivated by.... gamma irradiation

There nurses can do this and then become she-hulks, then they will be immune to Ebola, just get don't them mad

Joking, but on a serious note, if this goes pandemic and nurses walk off the job in fear, what's to stop delirious Ebola Zombies near death from going out in public wondering around saying "help me". Westerners have been programmed to shoot people who look like Zombies stumbling towards them. It's not that they want to eat them, they want help from anybody, because there was none to be found at hospitals.

a reply to: lovebeck

I would have to say, I might be looking for a different job if Ebola came to my hospital

originally posted by: lovebeck

originally posted by: Stormdancer777

originally posted by: lovebeck

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....

I don't know lovebeck when that care-taking comforter spirit in you takes over, you never know what you might do, you might just go on auto pilot

What? Stay and care for Ebola patients? Nahhh, not this nurse! It won't happen...



Plus, I work w/kids. Can't imagine seeing a kid with Ebola.

Look, I don't mean to be disrespectful but I live here in Dallas and hearing you and the other nurse posters say you'll quit and won't help the victims is very sad for me. If I were to come down with it myself you guys are telling me you won't help me.

And if a little kid comes down with Ebola are you saying you're running in the other direction?

originally posted by: texasgirl

originally posted by: lovebeck

originally posted by: Stormdancer777

originally posted by: lovebeck

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....

I don't know lovebeck when that care-taking comforter spirit in you takes over, you never know what you might do, you might just go on auto pilot

What? Stay and care for Ebola patients? Nahhh, not this nurse! It won't happen...



Plus, I work w/kids. Can't imagine seeing a kid with Ebola.

Look, I don't mean to be disrespectful but I live here in Dallas and hearing you and the other nurse posters say you'll quit and won't help the victims is very sad for me. If I were to come down with it myself you guys are telling me you won't help me.

And if a little kid comes down with Ebola are you saying you're running in the other direction?

I guess Id rather step in front of a bullet for you then risk getting something wherein the virus carries a death sentence.

a reply to: texasgirl

I think she is saying that IF the Hospital gave them proper protection she would stay but since they won't she has no choice but to quit, I don't blame her. Would you risk your life and by extension your own children's lives and your spouse, because the hospital is too cheap or just stupid, to protect you? I wouldn't and I know most people wouldn't either.
I support her.

originally posted by: GreenMtnBoys
a reply to: grandmakdw

Lol I've been a nurse for 8 years and I've been fed up and ready to quit for several now!!' Hell I wish my hospital would start laying us off en masse is be first in line!!!! If we get even one Ebola patient I'll kiss my pathetic nursing career goodbye and burn my license in a celebratory bond fire!!! The US healthcare system is completely broken!!!! Nursing is nothing but a punching bag profession and it's sad because I'm exactly the type of RN the profession needs. Now I know why there are still so few males in the profession. Just dealing with the insane female managers would make you go postal!!!

Isn't that the truth? Women are insane...and I'm one of them, lol!

I'd much rather work with a bunch of men than a bunch of women any day. I cannot imagine being a man and dealing with all the crazy gossip, favoritism, hormones, etc.

You guys are definitely in the minority in this profession, and that is unfortunate! Nursing needs more men. Especially in leadership and management positions.

originally posted by: texasgirl

originally posted by: lovebeck

originally posted by: Stormdancer777

originally posted by: lovebeck

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....

I don't know lovebeck when that care-taking comforter spirit in you takes over, you never know what you might do, you might just go on auto pilot

What? Stay and care for Ebola patients? Nahhh, not this nurse! It won't happen...



Plus, I work w/kids. Can't imagine seeing a kid with Ebola.

Look, I don't mean to be disrespectful but I live here in Dallas and hearing you and the other nurse posters say you'll quit and won't help the victims is very sad for me. If I were to come down with it myself you guys are telling me you won't help me.

And if a little kid comes down with Ebola are you saying you're running in the other direction?

Well it took a while folks, but it appears the trolls are picking up on our wonderful discussion here.

Way to TOTALLY miss the point! I assume you are not a nurse or a health care worker in the US, so you wouldn't understand. I also assume you didn't read the article I linked in the OP. Also, I said I CANNOT IMAGINE SEEING A KID SUFFER with Ebola! Jeesh.

If you were, and you had, then you might get it...Read the article, and the entire thread before rushing to judgement. If and when I decide to make a career change, I'll make it. It's a free country. Well it used to be, anyway.

a reply to: Blue_Jay33

Thank You!!! You get it, most others do as well. Kudos.

Good thing only MDs take the Hippocratic Oath.

Do nurses have anything similar to the Hippocratic Oath?

originally posted by: grandmakdw
a reply to: ~Lucidity

Be prepared to be threatened and coerced into working if it spreads in the US like it has in Africa.

You will targeted for public ridicule and humiliation, called all sorts of names, have your license taken away, everything the government can think of to get you to work.

I hope I am wrong, but that is what the US government (liberals/progressives/socialists) do to people who do things they don't like. Destroy their lives through any means possible.

So as a nurse or any health care worker, you must realize it might come to choosing between any hope of a future health care career, or your family. If it were me, no choice hands down, my family, regardless of what is done to me.

Isn't this a FREE country? How could a US citizen be forced into working as anything? If this actually happened, then I imagine that there would be a revolt, led by mostly angry women.

originally posted by: CloudsTasteMetallic
Good thing only MDs take the Hippocratic Oath.

Do nurses have anything similar to the Hippocratic Oath?

What does this even mean? You do realize it's us nurses who keep doctors from killing you, on a very regular basis, right? Doctors are the worst when it comes to hand washing, isolation precautions, etc. there are plenty of articles and peer reviewed bits out there to support this, btw.

originally posted by: GreenMtnBoys

originally posted by: aboutface
One thing that was tried during the SATS outbreak was to consolidate the ill rather than spread them out to several hospitals. It seemed to make sense for a little while until another hospital had an outbreak of their own. I wonder if there has been public health discussion on this point?

The military and NG needs to be readied right now!!! There is no point in having patients randomly show up at hospitals. Every hospital should now have special isolation triage tents set up NOW!!!! STAT! Not tomorrow, not next week! Put people to work, start training people NOW!!'

That makes sense and costs money, so you know that's not going to happen...

originally posted by: lovebeck

originally posted by: texasgirl

originally posted by: lovebeck

originally posted by: Stormdancer777

originally posted by: lovebeck

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....

I don't know lovebeck when that care-taking comforter spirit in you takes over, you never know what you might do, you might just go on auto pilot

What? Stay and care for Ebola patients? Nahhh, not this nurse! It won't happen...



Plus, I work w/kids. Can't imagine seeing a kid with Ebola.

Look, I don't mean to be disrespectful but I live here in Dallas and hearing you and the other nurse posters say you'll quit and won't help the victims is very sad for me. If I were to come down with it myself you guys are telling me you won't help me.

And if a little kid comes down with Ebola are you saying you're running in the other direction?

Well it took a while folks, but it appears the trolls are picking up on our wonderful discussion here.

Way to TOTALLY miss the point! I assume you are not a nurse or a health care worker in the US, so you wouldn't understand. I also assume you didn't read the article I linked in the OP. Also, I said I CANNOT IMAGINE SEEING A KID SUFFER with Ebola! Jeesh.

If you were, and you had, then you might get it...Read the article, and the entire thread before rushing to judgement. If and when I decide to make a career change, I'll make it. It's a free country. Well it used to be, anyway.

I'm not a troll and I am aware of all the good things you guys do which is why I said I didn't mean to be disrespectful. But I have read the entire thread, and even though you guys are going to the administrators at the hospital and asking for training, I still find it scary that you all seem to be ready to hang up your hats when it comes to an outbreak.

The article says that Texas Health had training but that it still missed his first symptoms. Maybe this is a wake up call for the other hospitals to start the training for infectious diseases.

No, I'm not a nurse and I guess I don't really 'get it' but it's alarming to me that so many will quit. Are the doctors feeling this way, too? (No, I'm really asking and not being sarcastic!)

originally posted by: lovebeck

originally posted by: CloudsTasteMetallic
Good thing only MDs take the Hippocratic Oath.

Do nurses have anything similar to the Hippocratic Oath?

What does this even mean? You do realize it's us nurses who keep doctors from killing you, on a very regular basis, right? Doctors are the worst when it comes to hand washing, isolation precautions, etc. there are plenty of articles and peer reviewed bits out there to support this, btw.

Hippocratic Oath:

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.

It's a shame to see so many nurses in this thread who have dedicated their life to healing the sick decide that "Well, if Ebola shows up, tough luck everyone else."

Guess it shows who's just in it for the paycheck, though.

a reply to: lovebeck

You cannot have your cake and eat it too.

In this new age of medicine, where software programs have taken over the medical decision making and doctors are only needed to scribble their signatures on preprinted forms that they seldom read and someone else, often a non-licensed, in some cases, with no medical or hospital experience, fills out. Where whether or not you are admitted to the hospital and how long you stay is determined by computer programs like InterQual and by doctors and nurses that use the determination made by the algorithms spit out by these madatory products. Most of the time the doctors and nurses deciding your care are not even in the same state and has never laid eyes on you, let alone touched you.

You think your doctor is using his knowledge and skills to manage your medical condition and he decides what is best for you and the best way to care for you? Wrong. His decisions are often overridden by nurses, often LPNs that are doing the dirty work for the well bribed medical advisor sitting in his ocean front home across the country from your hospital bed.

Your doctor is allowed his 8 minutes of window dressing face time and brow beaten for any decision he makes that goes against the computer generated decision for your care. A handful of doctors are trying to resist the financially rewarded (bribes) of the soon to be mandated, then punishment will replace the bribes, I mean rewards for 100% electronic health records (EHR). Want to see how far down the rabbit hole we are? Google it.

If you really knew how sad a state our healthcare programs are here in the US, you would pray incessantly that you or a loved one will never see the inside of a hospital.

Ask a doctor you trust and respect if he thinks 'any' hospital in America is equipped to manage the care of a patient with Ebola.

The ugly truth is, if our government has allowed this disease into our country. We are screwed.

It's almost as if the inadequate preparation was intentional....

a reply to: CloudsTasteMetallic


I think they have something similar to it called The Nightingale Pledge. Don't know if it's in all the nursing schools, though.

originally posted by: texasgirl

originally posted by: lovebeck

originally posted by: Stormdancer777

originally posted by: lovebeck

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....

I don't know lovebeck when that care-taking comforter spirit in you takes over, you never know what you might do, you might just go on auto pilot

What? Stay and care for Ebola patients? Nahhh, not this nurse! It won't happen...



Plus, I work w/kids. Can't imagine seeing a kid with Ebola.

Look, I don't mean to be disrespectful but I live here in Dallas and hearing you and the other nurse posters say you'll quit and won't help the victims is very sad for me. If I were to come down with it myself you guys are telling me you won't help me.

And if a little kid comes down with Ebola are you saying you're running in the other direction?

what?....you expect here to put her life and the lives of her family on the line for you?...what if one of her kids contacted ebola from her, when she was helping you, and the kid died...let her make her own choice, without you, trying to guilt-trip her into possible disaster...geez...I've been to Texas several times, and never once had a thought about moving there...thanks for reinforcing that decision?