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There is an Ebola virus outbreak going on in Africa right now. A terrible thing. It starts with a fever, throat pain, muscle aches and headaches. Often times it affects the liver and kidneys. People have trouble with bleeding. Little can be done for it except supportive care and hope that the body's immune system can overcome it. It has up to a 90% fatality rate.There has been recent news of medical professionals there dying after getting the virus. Recently a man travelling in Africa who was a citizen of this country died over there.
Its a scary thing. The chances of it coming here are probably remote. It gives me pause though.. We are trained to deal with disasters, including disease outbreaks and how we would handle them. Biological warfare. Gas attacks. I learned about all of this in detail in the military. I have to say that if there was an outbreak of some kind o a chemical or gas attack, biological warfare,
I won't be the one caring for people.
That might sound selfish. Hey you are a medical professional and you work in the ER, you are supposed to take care of us during these events. Maybe....but I am not willing to sacrifice possibly exposing my family to something I could bring home. Simple as that.
What are your thoughts?
7 comments:
I'm a nurse in critical care I've nursed patients with swine flu in full protective equipment including a mask that digs in to your face for 13 hours. If a pandemic of ebola hits us then I'm really sorry. .... but fuck it they're by themselves.
The problem is you're not going to figure out it is ebola until they've spent at least a few minutes at your triage desk. I would go to a motel for the requisite incubation period if I thought I was exposed to something that deadly. No way I'm taking it home.
People at the triage desk at my hospital wear masks, because of this kind of thing - but they don't wear N95 masks so who knows how much protections that provides. That is the sort of thing that scares me about being in the first line. I wouldn't blame the person who felt that they wanted to walk away
Yeah, don't go home, you'd be bringing it to your family. As much as it sucks, that is why the outbreak is so bad. People refusing quarantine and essentially signing their own death warrants. (40% survival treated, little chance of spreading, vs 10% survival untreated, it'll kill your whole family).
I honestly don't know what I'd do in that situation. (I'm disabled, so a bit of a moot point, but still.)
If I were to work, I'd definitely be bedding down in some sort of quarantine facility and NOT going home to my family. I may have signed up for the risks of the job, but my family did not. Although if small children were in my household, I definitely would refuse to work with patients that infectuous.
"They don't pay me enough for this sh*t" Do you think the police would call in sick/not show up, as well?
Ten years ago, I would say no. But now kids are grown and established and I would do it. You are not selfish, you simply know what you would be able to do should the situation arise.
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