Re: Swine Flu
WORN, eric isn't home at the moment to reply back, but i will.
you've heard this from your own risk management department. i will repeat it to you here: think before you speak. what you say comes with the heavy weight and responsibility of your being a healthcare professional. i'm sure you meant to chide previous posters on this thread for joking about a serious disease. what ended up happening was that you potentially inflamed the issue beyond where it needed to be.
far from eric having "patted your nursey head" he was asking you to be more clear. your initial, breathless post verged on the alarmist with its lack of detail (and you yourself described certain aspects of your post as "brief"). i'm not talking about your refusal to violate HIPAA. i'm talking about the absolute necessity for you to write responsibly on a public discussion board while holding up your RN as proof of expertise. this is why: when you reveal that you treat patients with a disease that many in the public are afraid of (i'm sure you noticed the absolutely inane posts about conspiracy on this thread) and then reinforce that fear by calling that disease "ugly" "serious" and "no joke" without pointing out that for most people, catching the disease can be easily mitigated by simple precautions, you're being an thoughtless health care provider making a display of your expertise that has more to do with your ego and need for show versus being actually helpful and informative to a readership looking to you for guidance.
i'll stand with eric on his statement that spanish flu really went after young ADULTS whereas the current iteration of H1N1 seems to have a fondness for children and the immunocompromised. i'll also stand by eric in the sense that with his first post on this thread, he did more googling than you did for your first post and shared what he learned for the benefit HTers who don't have a healthcare background.
i also object to your implication that only queen's has a good ER. you know as well as i do that every hospital--including ED--has to meet the exact same standards set by the DOH, CMS and the Joint Commission. to imply that only queen's ED is "good" is irresponsible, maybe even elitist, and insulting to your clinician colleagues. yes, queen's has a trauma center. but every hospital participates in the various meetings/updates/telephone conferences with the DOH H1N1 updates. every hospital has been prepared to diagnose/isolate/treat possible H1N1 patients. had H1N1 been more contagious/virulent than it is, your words could have caused queen's ED staff more stress than it needed, with patients refusing to be diverted/asked to go to to other EDs completely and equally capable of treating them.
i'm not dissing queen's by any means by pointing out they're the first hospital whose staff were infected by H1N1. it makes absolute sense that queens was the first simply because of the volume of patients they treat is much larger than anyone else's. but the fact that they have infected staff shows they're not significantly much more capable of caring for H1N1 patients who come into their ED than any other hospital's ED.
the point of eric's post--and mine before it--is not to minimize the seriousness of H1N1. you're right--it may mutate into something much more serious, and the fact there is already a strain resistant to tamiflu may be a step toward that. yes, a small number of people have gotten so sick with H1N1 that you've had to care for them in your CCU. but the fact remains--most people can avoid getting H1N1 at this point--indeed, any flu, and many other diseases--with simple actions. you yourself may need a full body condom when you're at work. but you're a CCU nurse, and that's very ordinary for a CCU nurse. that's not normal for the regular healthy person walking down the street or shopping in the mall or going to the movies.
i'll point out another thing: i may not be clinical, but bcs i'm in risk management, i get those updates from DOH and CMS et al before even you CCU nurse do. i'm not saying that to swing my dick. i'm saying that because i want everyone to know that i see the exact same CDC/DOH reports you do. in fact, i'm more likely to see the actual report whereas you get what's told to you by your manager or is dispersed via your hospital's bulletins.
what those reports indicate is that most people who get the swine flu don't need a stay in the CCU. most are quarantined home and given antibiotics. given a couple weeks, they're able to resume normal life and go back to work/school/daily activities. you also failed to mention that the swine flu currently isn't seen as more contagious/virulent than regular flu (which is itself can be deadly) and that the DOH is no longer requiring that every person who comes in with flu symptoms be tested for having H1N1.
that all said, thank you for taking the time to clarify and add to your first post. besides the complete mischaracterization of eric's motives and your defensive tone (which again shows that you're more interested in protecting the aura of expertise that having RN next to your name than the more altruistic desire of educating people), you did a decent job of "showing your work." ironic that you chide him for being condescending because it's actually you who's guilty of it.
thankfully, we three can all agree on these points:
update: we now have a confirmed second swine flu-related death in hawaii. one of the comments to the HonAdv story contains a good-to-know stat: for the same time period: swine flu killed 600 or so people whereas regular flu killed 6,000. geewhiz, regular flu sounds like it can be an ugly, nasty, serious disease that hits hard, too! no joke!
WORN, eric isn't home at the moment to reply back, but i will.
you've heard this from your own risk management department. i will repeat it to you here: think before you speak. what you say comes with the heavy weight and responsibility of your being a healthcare professional. i'm sure you meant to chide previous posters on this thread for joking about a serious disease. what ended up happening was that you potentially inflamed the issue beyond where it needed to be.
far from eric having "patted your nursey head" he was asking you to be more clear. your initial, breathless post verged on the alarmist with its lack of detail (and you yourself described certain aspects of your post as "brief"). i'm not talking about your refusal to violate HIPAA. i'm talking about the absolute necessity for you to write responsibly on a public discussion board while holding up your RN as proof of expertise. this is why: when you reveal that you treat patients with a disease that many in the public are afraid of (i'm sure you noticed the absolutely inane posts about conspiracy on this thread) and then reinforce that fear by calling that disease "ugly" "serious" and "no joke" without pointing out that for most people, catching the disease can be easily mitigated by simple precautions, you're being an thoughtless health care provider making a display of your expertise that has more to do with your ego and need for show versus being actually helpful and informative to a readership looking to you for guidance.
i'll stand with eric on his statement that spanish flu really went after young ADULTS whereas the current iteration of H1N1 seems to have a fondness for children and the immunocompromised. i'll also stand by eric in the sense that with his first post on this thread, he did more googling than you did for your first post and shared what he learned for the benefit HTers who don't have a healthcare background.
i also object to your implication that only queen's has a good ER. you know as well as i do that every hospital--including ED--has to meet the exact same standards set by the DOH, CMS and the Joint Commission. to imply that only queen's ED is "good" is irresponsible, maybe even elitist, and insulting to your clinician colleagues. yes, queen's has a trauma center. but every hospital participates in the various meetings/updates/telephone conferences with the DOH H1N1 updates. every hospital has been prepared to diagnose/isolate/treat possible H1N1 patients. had H1N1 been more contagious/virulent than it is, your words could have caused queen's ED staff more stress than it needed, with patients refusing to be diverted/asked to go to to other EDs completely and equally capable of treating them.
i'm not dissing queen's by any means by pointing out they're the first hospital whose staff were infected by H1N1. it makes absolute sense that queens was the first simply because of the volume of patients they treat is much larger than anyone else's. but the fact that they have infected staff shows they're not significantly much more capable of caring for H1N1 patients who come into their ED than any other hospital's ED.
the point of eric's post--and mine before it--is not to minimize the seriousness of H1N1. you're right--it may mutate into something much more serious, and the fact there is already a strain resistant to tamiflu may be a step toward that. yes, a small number of people have gotten so sick with H1N1 that you've had to care for them in your CCU. but the fact remains--most people can avoid getting H1N1 at this point--indeed, any flu, and many other diseases--with simple actions. you yourself may need a full body condom when you're at work. but you're a CCU nurse, and that's very ordinary for a CCU nurse. that's not normal for the regular healthy person walking down the street or shopping in the mall or going to the movies.
i'll point out another thing: i may not be clinical, but bcs i'm in risk management, i get those updates from DOH and CMS et al before even you CCU nurse do. i'm not saying that to swing my dick. i'm saying that because i want everyone to know that i see the exact same CDC/DOH reports you do. in fact, i'm more likely to see the actual report whereas you get what's told to you by your manager or is dispersed via your hospital's bulletins.
what those reports indicate is that most people who get the swine flu don't need a stay in the CCU. most are quarantined home and given antibiotics. given a couple weeks, they're able to resume normal life and go back to work/school/daily activities. you also failed to mention that the swine flu currently isn't seen as more contagious/virulent than regular flu (which is itself can be deadly) and that the DOH is no longer requiring that every person who comes in with flu symptoms be tested for having H1N1.
that all said, thank you for taking the time to clarify and add to your first post. besides the complete mischaracterization of eric's motives and your defensive tone (which again shows that you're more interested in protecting the aura of expertise that having RN next to your name than the more altruistic desire of educating people), you did a decent job of "showing your work." ironic that you chide him for being condescending because it's actually you who's guilty of it.
thankfully, we three can all agree on these points:
- wash your hands frequently, using soap and scrubbing all surfaces of your hands vigorously for at least the amount of time it takes to say the pledge of allegiance in your head.
- stay home if you're sick.
- avoid getting close to people who are sick if you can help it.
- use hand sanitizers esp after touching widely-used surfaces in the public (doorknobs, for example).
- eat and drink healthily.
- sleep well and make sure you get enough sleep.
- call your doctor if you have flulike symptoms. if you have fever of 100 degrees or more, go to the ER if your doc can't see you that very same day.
update: we now have a confirmed second swine flu-related death in hawaii. one of the comments to the HonAdv story contains a good-to-know stat: for the same time period: swine flu killed 600 or so people whereas regular flu killed 6,000. geewhiz, regular flu sounds like it can be an ugly, nasty, serious disease that hits hard, too! no joke!
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