Will Nurses Work During a Pandemic?

[mixin]

Re: Will Nurses Work During a Pandemic?

It may not be just the government who decides if health care professionals work.
If a man's child is dying and there is a nurse or Dr living nearby, you can be pretty sure the man with the sick kiddo will come knocking on their door.
He may not take *no* for an answer.
In one of the online plague or influenza accounts I read, two retired nurses were literally forced out of their home by one of the neighbors to help him attend to those in need.

[tropical]

Re: Will Nurses Work During a Pandemic?

Yes, if an plague come, it will be a very hard time.

[teederkee]

Re: Will Nurses Work During a Pandemic?

Yes, there will be paid healthcare professionals that choose to fend for themselves or loved ones before coming to work. Likewise, there will be those who show up to care for others. There will also be people who no longer work in the healthcare field that will come to the hospitals and clinics to care for others (retired, instructors, etc). There are others who may or may not have professional training, but they will offer whatever resources they have. Remember after 911, there was a person who drove a truckload of dogfood down to the epicentre in case there was a need. It just added to the pandemonium.

Police and other services trying to control these situations also have to decide who to let in and who to turn away. It will also have to be decided whether these helpers actually help or make the situation worse. But then again, who looked after the lepers?

[tropical]

Re: Will Nurses Work During a Pandemic?

Yes, there will be paid healthcare professionals that choose to fend for themselves or loved ones before coming to work. Likewise, there will be those who show up to care for others. There will also be people who no longer work in the healthcare field that will come to the hospitals and clinics to care for others (retired, instructors, etc). There are others who may or may not have professional training, but they will offer whatever resources they have. Remember after 911, there was a person who drove a truckload of dogfood down to the epicentre in case there was a need. It just added to the pandemonium.

Police and other services trying to control these situations also have to decide who to let in and who to turn away. It will also have to be decided whether these helpers actually help or make the situation worse. But then again, who looked after the lepers?

Teederkee, you are correct. Fortunately, exists an human minority who risk "only for a vocation".

The wroted phrases:
Why you will risk?
Because you are payed for.
What do you think why so many people do such risky jobs: bonificate mined land, deep mining, ..., contractors ..., only for a vocation?
are only for the ones who exibits no vocation, and no willing, but whose jobs (at the moment) are payed by the public health system = by taxpayer citizens.

[Sunshine123]

Re: Will Nurses Work During a Pandemic?

Does any nurse out there know what the type of isolation that would be instituted if a pt, out of the blue, came in w/ bird flu? Would it be airborne or droplet precautions? I am talking floor nursing here. I don't see where the cdc nor the hospital infection control manuals take a stand on it?

[cartski]

Re: Will Nurses Work During a Pandemic?

Just received through and auto PubMed search:

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/action/showFullText?submitFullText=Full+Text+HTML&doi=10.1111%2Fj.1466-7657.2007.00586.x&cookieSet=1

The SARS crisis: reflections of Hong Kong nurses


Holroyd E. & McNaught C. (2008) The SARS crisis: reflections of Hong Kong nurses. International Nursing Review 55, 27?33

Abstract


Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) exerted a massive toll on Hong Kong's healthcare system in 2003.

Aim: This research examines front-line nurses' reflections on the time of SARS in Hong Kong in order to articulate: (1) the nature and complexity of their experience, and (2) what lessons can be learned for future disease crises.

Methods: Personal reflective essays written in 2004 by seven senior nurses studying a part-time Masters in Nursing degree at a Hong Kong university were analysed using a form of content analysis.

Findings: The nurses' stories report immense personal costs on nurses, on their families and on the wider community. The analysis of the narratives was used to build a model, indicating how nurses' personal lives were ?sandwiched? between, on the one hand, their commitment to families and local community and, on the other hand, their professional commitment to the needs of a health system in crisis.

Conclusion: In dealing with future health crises, it is imperative that a multilevel approach be taken.

[Laidback Al]

Re: Will Nurses Work During a Pandemic?

At allnurses.com the administrator has justed added a poll to the thread -
Will you work during a Pandemic?

Poll: Nurses, would you go to work during a Pandemic?

http://allnurses.com/forums/f8/will-you-work-during-pandemic-258506.html