The CDC, hospital administrators and others who were in charge have blamed nurses for not following protocol in the Texas Ebola case. The infectious disease personnel allowed these nurses to care for someone with a deadly, highly contagious disease, without proper equipment or training. Nurse Pham is being treated like an incompetent fool because she put her life on the line and trusted her superiors when she was told that the improper fitting PPE (personal protective equipment) was acceptable. More than 2 weeks into this crisis and these nurses, still, did not have access to proper PPEs. There was trash piled in the hallways because they were running out of places to put it. They had infectious disease experts walking through that hallway in street clothes and unprotected. Those experts were then free to move about the rest of the hospital with nobody giving it a second thought. But, a nurse who was giving hands on care to a dying man, with the best protection available to her, is being is told the only one to blame is herself? She trusted her employer to give her the proper equipment and training to do her job. Her employer looked at their bottom line and decided not to rush the order for better protective gear, even after she became ill herself. We give police bulletproof vests, firefighters proper gear and had a fit when we found out our soldiers were not properly equipped. Yet, we blame bad nurses and the Presidents poor response instead of the administrators who are more worried about money than their employees and the citizens at large. When the hospital finally got a garbage contractor, the garbage men had better equipment to properly dispose of infected trash than this hospital gave their nurses while risking their lives caring for a sick, highly contagious, dying man. *I do not wish for this post to spread more panic and fear than what is already out there. Yes, Ebola is contagious. No, it is not going to spread wildly across the country. It spreads in Liberia due to lack of sanitation, education, infrastructre, and proper medical care. Ebola is spread through bodily fluids, including sweat, vomit and diarrhea. When someone is violently vomiting, the disease can be misted into the air for a short period of time. If the Texas nurses had on several pairs of gloves, but skin on the neck was exposed, I believe projectile vomiting is how they were, most likely, infected. This could have been prevented with proper PPEs. Ebola has been a known disease since the 70s. We know how to stop the spread and the first thing is to prevent the spread of panic. Secondly is to properly equip medical personnel. This hospital has failed miserably at both. If you are afraid of Ebola, here is a list of things you can do to prevent exposure: 1. Dont touch anybody, including hugs, handshakes, etc., if you think they may be sick. 2. Dont stay in a room when someone is violently vomiting. 3. Dont go to West Africa right now. 4. Dont panic or allow fear to guide your common sense. 5. Get educated from reliable medical sources about the disease. CNN, FOX and MSNBC are not reliable medical sources. They are for news and basic information only. It is up to you to educate yourself. -Tracy
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 17:10:54 +0000
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