I'm a nurse and I've possibly been exposed to Ebola and I think I maybe should be quarantined

[mnhtnbb]

146. All I can do is speculate about the challenges faced by nursing admins in staffing

to care for all patients in the hospital.

If you read--or listen-- the interview with the doc that I've posted elsewhere
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025683949

you will learn that the hospital isolated him in ICU--AFTER they moved all other
ICU patients out.

That means they had an ICU nursing staff--probably among the youngest and best educated
nurses in the hospital--having to rotate elsewhere to care for those displaced ICU patients OR
volunteer to care for Mr. Duncan. Or both. The doc said they had no problem getting volunteers.
At the point he was being cared for in the ICU, they were following CDC protocols, and later, the additional
recommendation that all staff wear respirators. So, I can understand the health care professional point of
view that they consider themselves to be low risk--because they are wearing protective gear. The doc still
thinks he's low risk.

The medical POV--conservative POV--is that Ebola is not transmitted through aerosolization. There are others
that aren't so sure--and if you read--listen to this doc--he wonders (but isn't challenged by the interviewer)
if the two nurses didn't catch Ebola when Mr. Duncan was spewing huge viral loads of bodily fluids and they
were NOT YET wearing respirators--which were later added to the equipment requested by the team caring
for Mr. Duncan.

After he dies, what to do with the ICU nurses who treated Mr. Duncan? Nurses are always in short supply--and
the better trained/educated ones are certainly in short supply. If they all consider themselves low risk...well,
it would have been interesting to be in a meeting devoted to staffing issues at that point in time.

Beyond that...I can't speculate.

As for me being out of date by 30 years--well, principles of management and criteria used to make decisions don't become
outdated--unless the overall system changes dramatically. And it hasn't.


Incidentally, the fear has spread and according to this report, the hospital has become a ghost town.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/ebola-scare-turns-dallas-hospital-ghost-town/story?id=26276610