Ebola is in the USA. Does this frighten you?

[ContaMundum]

I'm a hospital nursing supervisor with ER experience. I am alarmed that we have an active ebola case in the US. However I am a long way from paniced. Nor does it surprise me that a piece of critical information got dropped in the ER report.

When you go to the Emergency Department you do not get a comprehensive medical exam. You get treated for what you complain of. So if he came in with a c/o diarrhea he might be sent out with a packet of anti-diarrheals. Neither does the Emergency department Doc expect to be responsible for the global treatment of every patient who walks through the door. The expectation is that the patient will follow up with his own physician if he needs further treatment.

I suspect that ED's near international airports will be tightening their screening protocols.

This has been my own experience in visiting the ER. I keep a comprehensive list of meds and past procedures in my wallet for me and my wife. Everytime I pull it out and hand it to the attending, he looks surprised and thanks me for being so methodical.

 

[rexlunae]

So the first Ebola patient has been confirmed in the USA at a Dallas area hospital.

Does this news frighten you?

I have family in Dallas, one of whom is a public high school teacher, so it concerns me. It doesn't frighten me. What worries me most is that it seems like protocols weren't properly followed when the guy first went in. But if medical personnel are taking proper precautions, it's not all that hard to contain, so I believe that now that it's been recognized, it should be fairly easy to contain.

 

[ContaMundum]

I am praying for those in the Dallas area about this situation.

 

[Totton Linnet]

That guy [I think it's Perry] sure gives out confused messages.

He keeps saying there is no risk as the symptoms emerged four days after the patient arrived.

He immediately talks about extensive painstaking efforts to find all contacts.

 

[rocketman]

You and her seem to read my posts enough to know that I occasionally use marijuana but must skip over the multiple posts where I have stated that I have never gone to work high. What's stupid is that anyone would think that has changed when my most recent thread states that I barely do it at all anymore anyway.

Fair enough but, no, I have not read your posts on the subject much further than the first or second post on the subject for lack of interest, so no, I did not know you had stated previously that you don't work stoned. Congratulations on beginning to live sober... dope free that is, you will find the world a bit clearer without the crutch.

 

[Angel4Truth]

I'm waiting for someone to refer to Outbreak that came out about 20 years ago. Of course, the theory then was that it would spread by air - someone sneezing on a plane (from Africa) would spread the virus to multiple people. And the CDC's stash of the virus would be accidentally released by a mishap in Reston.

It's been years since I've seen it, but Dustin Hoffman in a yellow hazmat suit is not something that is easy to forget...

I already did, in the other thread about ebola

Heres a movie we can all watch to prepare ourselves:

Outbreak

 

[rocketman]

Why do most of us react more against exterior threats of pestilence, than we fear the inner corruptions that consign us to hellfire and the second death?

Is Ebola worse or more deadly than our own sins?

Did Christ die for all your sins Nang? If so, why would you fear hellfire or the second death if you received Christ's sacrifice?

 

[Angel4Truth]

The same that happens to the sheets and gowns and other things used by any other patient with an infectious disease.

They didn't know he had an infectious disease the FIRST time he went to the hospital, they didn't even think he had a virus (you dont prescribe antibiotics for viral infections.

No precautions would have been taken by those who handled those items. Way heavier precautions have to be taken with ebola which is a hazmat team has to go get the bagged and sealed sheets and his clothes from the apartment he was staying at.

Please tell me how his sheets and other items from the FIRST (not second time - he was there 2 times) he visited the er, were handled and how the room he was in, was sterilized before any other patient were in there and how the rest room (if he used one while there was sanitized) thanks

 

[Angel4Truth]

You and her seem to read my posts enough to know that I occasionally use marijuana but must skip over the multiple posts where I have stated that I have never gone to work high. What's stupid is that anyone would think that has changed when my most recent thread states that I barely do it at all anymore anyway.

Never seen you say that - can you link to some of them, i have seen you say untill recently in the thread where you say you cut back - that you used to do it multiple times a day. (and i posted your words) and you saying you barely do it anymore doesnt answer whether or not you have went to work high does it? Oh and for someone who doesnt want to keep talking about it, you keep talking about it.

 

[nikolai_42]

I already did, in the other thread about ebola

My mistake! I want to watch that movie again (and I am in the Dallas area!)

 

[shagster01]

They didn't know he had an infectious disease the FIRST time he went to the hospital, they didn't even think he had a virus (you dont prescribe antibiotics for viral infections.

No precautions would have been taken by those who handled those items. Way heavier precautions have to be taken with ebola which is a hazmat team has to go get the bagged and sealed sheets and his clothes from the apartment he was staying at.

Please tell me how his sheets and other items from the FIRST (not second time - he was there 2 times) he visited the er, were handled and how the room he was in, was sterilized before any other patient were in there and how the rest room (if he used one while there was sanitized) thanks

Standard precautions should always be used. I just completed my mandatory yearly tests on the subject. Anything is always considered highly contaminated at the hospital. I'm sure not all employees do what they should, but show me a place where employees do what they should 100% of the time.

Granted, standard precautions don't include hazmat suits, but they are still nearly always effective.

 

[Angel4Truth]

Granted, standard precautions don't include hazmat suits, but they are still nearly always effective.

Then how do healthcare workers fully garbed up in hazmat suits get ebola and why do people who handle their items (sheets etc) without them get ebola?

 

[Angel4Truth]

Anything is always considered highly contaminated at the hospital. I'm sure not all employees do what they should, but show me a place where employees do what they should 100% of the time.
.

I'm sure they would if they knew their life depended on it. But thanks for admitting that even in hospitals its not something to count on, so we SHOULD be concerned about what happened to those items that night.

 

[shagster01]

Then how do healthcare workers fully garbed up in hazmat suits get ebola and why do people who handle their items (sheets etc) without them get ebola?

Are you suggesting all hospital employees should be walking around in hazmat suits?

 

[Angel4Truth]

Are you suggesting all hospital employees should be walking around in hazmat suits?

The ones at that hospital? yes.

 

[shagster01]

The ones at that hospital? yes.

That is ridiculous. How would they have known an Ebola patient would show up at their hospital?

There is nothing to suggest they aren't taking proper precautions now, so your beef can only be with the way it was handled before it was known he had it.

 

[Angel4Truth]

That is ridiculous. How would they have known an Ebola patient would show up at their hospital?

Hello, since they have known :doh:

There is nothing to suggest they aren't taking proper precautions now, so your beef can only be with the way it was handled before it was known he had it.

Very good, you finally got the point, which was how many possible people they havent considered could have already been infected because of lack of precaution the first time.

Are you ok? It took you a really long time to get this.

 

[Angel4Truth]

Biohazard waste receptacles is standard and hospital housekeeping is death to all germs and viruses. Contaminated sheets don't have to be burned, just washed in hot water with bleach or other proven disinfectant. Blankets are autoclaved, I think, and all of this is SOP.

According to the C.D.C., the virus can survive for a few hours on dry surfaces like doorknobs and countertops. But it can survive for several days in puddles or other collections of body fluid at room temperature. It is not clear how long it may survive in soiled linens and clothing.

Big concern about what happened to the sheets, gown and other items in the er, from the first time he was there.

 

[IMJerusha]

Big concern about what happened to the sheets, gown and other items in the er, from the first time he was there.

I understand, however, the SOP is that those items go into laundry hampers. It's not an airborne disease, Angel, so unless the ER reuses dirty sheets and gowns (not going to happen), there is no threat to anyone except housekeeping employees who are trained not to handle those items without gloves.

 

[Truster]

''Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence''.

A promise is a promise.