Cideous Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 The title says it all. In the dark hours of the night when you are thinking about your patients and the day........are you willing to contract a potential life ending illness while showing up for work in Family Practice and Urgent Care? It doesn't get anymore real then this. So what is your answer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted March 1, 2020 Moderator Share Posted March 1, 2020 We all make that choice every day....as a medical provider, as a Paramedic, as an ER nurse, as a member of the military. We could all catch a bullet or worse each and every day. You could also get hit by a bus on vacation so chose your actions wisely and carpe diem. I spent a summer working with cholera patients and signed up to treat Ebola in west Africa. I staffed a battalion aid station in Iraq. so if that is the way I buy the farm, so be it. 3 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SickEKMan Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 I take it you deal with non-compliant uncooperative HIV patients. Yes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted March 1, 2020 Moderator Share Posted March 1, 2020 18 minutes ago, SickEKMan said: I take it you deal with non-compliant uncooperative HIV patients. Yes? I work in the ER. I deal with everyone. 4 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohiovolffemtp Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 After 35 years in fire/EMS and now in EM I've learned to live with the duality: you have to live with the possibility that you could either be killed, injured, or contract some devastating disease and therefore are cautious, but also believe that if you're "careful enough" that it "won't" happen to you, so you won't be paralyzed. 1 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted March 1, 2020 Moderator Share Posted March 1, 2020 2 minutes ago, ohiovolffemtp said: After 35 years in fire/EMS and now in EM I've learned to live with the duality: you have to live with the possibility that you could either be killed, injured, or contract some devastating disease and therefore are cautious, but also believe that if you're "careful enough" that it "won't" happen to you, so you won't be paralyzed. yup. this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SickEKMan Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 19 minutes ago, EMEDPA said: I work in the ER. I deal with everyone. That was directed toward Cideous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted March 1, 2020 Administrator Share Posted March 1, 2020 You gotta die of something someday. I left a quite lucrative and comfortable career in information security because medicine matters more. Last month I walked into an exam room with a patient whom I knew to regularly carry a gun and whom I had found to (on a more probable than not basis) be lying about his injuries. Why? Because that's part of the job I signed up to do. Same thing with Coronavirus. Living in Western Washington, I may already have been exposed, between my various EMS and family med/urgent care contacts over the past two weeks. Because people matter... and their value extends beyond our own finite human lives to many belief systems, including my own. 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cideous Posted March 1, 2020 Author Share Posted March 1, 2020 Interesting. It's quite a question but I wonder sometimes....how much is your family worth? On the front lines we are infinitely more likely to contract this disease. 80 healthcare providers in Washington are at home in quarantine because of their patient hospital exposure. If they get it...so will their family. Is it worth giving it to your children? Tough questions, but as providers these are real questions. That's what we do here....ask real questions. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted March 1, 2020 Moderator Share Posted March 1, 2020 yup, but remember coronavirus isn't as bad as influenza, which we all get exposed to multiple times per season, often multiple times per day. deaths from influenza in the US last year, 35,000. Deaths in the US from Corona virus, one (1). It's not Ebola. It's not even measles. see the chart half way down the page: https://www.popsci.com/story/health/wuhan-coronavirus-updates/ In January the WHO told CBS it considered the death rate for the novel coronavirus to be around 2 percent. Initial data suggests it is much less likely to result in an infected patient’s death than SARS—but a mortality rate of 2 percent is still concerning, especially for a virus that can spread so quietly and leave most of the infected relatively healthy. Some experts suspect the true fatality rate of the virus is below 1 percent, with rates inflated due to the fact that so many cases of COVID-19 feature only mild symptoms. It’s likely that many of these mild cases are going undetected. “It’s good to remember that when H1N1 influenza came out in 2009, estimates of case fatality were 10 percent,” David Fisman, an epidemiologist at the University of Toronto, told Reuters. The actual fatality rate turned out to be well under 1 percent. 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohiovolffemtp Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 I work in a critical access hospital. There's only 2 FT PA's and several PT ones, and only about 4 docs who regularly work here. So, there's no one else to offload the work to. So, yes, I'm willing to take a risk, and accept possible quarantine, to keep the place going. If worse comes to worse, I'm willing to be the provider quarantined with the patients. That way, the patients get care and my family is protected. 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAdamsPAC Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 As a Medic in the US Army this was part of my job. As a civilian PA not so any longer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FiremedicMike Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 HIV, Ebola, bird flu, swine flu, west Nile, SARS, zika virus.. the list goes on. We've all managed to survive all of those “outbreaks” just fine... I refuse to spend one ounce of energy getting caught up in this mass hysteria that the media is fueling over coronavirus. Frankly - we’re more likely to get killed in a crash on the way to work.. 4 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UGoLong Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 Even without this particular virus, we walk into buildings with sick people literally all of the time. We take the precautions we can. The alternative is to stay home and hope we don't get struck by a meteor, I suppose. A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. -John Shedd, 1928 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boatswain2PA Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 1 hour ago, FiremedicMike said: I refuse to spend one ounce of energy getting caught up in this mass hysteria that the media is fueling over coronavirus. But what about preparing for the mass hysteria of the sheeple who DO get caught up in the media's hype? Or, what about preparing for the economic slowdown and supply chain interruptions that may come from the quarantines associated with this. Wuhan is a major manufacturing area that is in quarantine. Manufacturing plants in the surrounding areas have reported 40% worker absences. I'm not worried about dying from the coronavirus. However I did make sure we stocked up on apap/motrin/fluid replenishment for us and kiddo, as well as ensuring our pantry was stocked a little deeper than usual. Nothing wrong with not HAVING to buy anything for >30 days if needed. What will the supply chain effects be? I'll tell you in the fall.... 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas5814 Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 (edited) Interesting question. we had a corona virus scare at my UC last week. It wasn't much to my way of thinking. Low risk exposure in a virus that is unlikely to do more than make me ill for a while but the patient came in just before closing so I texted my wife that I was going to be late getting home and told her why. My wife, who invented worrying (if you worry she gets a residual), freaked out. She told me to stay away and don't put my life in danger etc etc. So it made me ask myself the same question. I really didn't even have to think about it. I just told her this was part of the job. She said it wasn't...it was the job of epidemiologists and ID specialists etc etc but whatever walks in the door is my job. It wasn't different from my law enforcement days or my military days (though there is a slightly smaller chance of getting shot). It's the job. Edited March 1, 2020 by sas5814 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cideous Posted March 1, 2020 Author Share Posted March 1, 2020 2 hours ago, sas5814 said: Interesting question. we had a corona virus scare at my UC last week. It wasn't much to my way of thinking. Low risk exposure in a virus that is unlikely to do more than make me ill for a while but the patient came in just before closing so I texted my wife that I was going to be late getting home and told her why. My wife, who invented worrying (if you worry she gets a residual), freaked out. She told me to stay away and don't put my life in danger etc etc. So it made me ask myself the same question. I really didn't even have to think about it. I just told her this was part of the job. She said it wasn't...it was the job of epidemiologists and ID specialists etc etc but whatever walks in the door is my job. It wasn't different from my law enforcement days or my military days (though there is a slightly smaller chance of getting shot). It's the job. Exactly the same conversation I had with my wife, and the nidus of this thread topic. It made me really think...it's not just about me but others in my house that don't make that choice to put themselves at risk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas5814 Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 14 minutes ago, Cideous said: Exactly the same conversation I had with my wife, and the nidus of this thread topic. It made me really think...it's not just about me but others in my house that don't make that choice to put themselves at risk. Indeed. We don't operate in a vacuum. I told my wife I have plenty of life insurance. She was not amused. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cideous Posted March 1, 2020 Author Share Posted March 1, 2020 10 minutes ago, sas5814 said: Indeed. We don't operate in a vacuum. I told my wife I have plenty of life insurance. She was not amused. ROFL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FiremedicMike Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 2 hours ago, Boatswain2PA said: But what about preparing for the mass hysteria of the sheeple who DO get caught up in the media's hype? Or, what about preparing for the economic slowdown and supply chain interruptions that may come from the quarantines associated with this. Wuhan is a major manufacturing area that is in quarantine. Manufacturing plants in the surrounding areas have reported 40% worker absences. I'm not worried about dying from the coronavirus. However I did make sure we stocked up on apap/motrin/fluid replenishment for us and kiddo, as well as ensuring our pantry was stocked a little deeper than usual. Nothing wrong with not HAVING to buy anything for >30 days if needed. What will the supply chain effects be? I'll tell you in the fall.... Honestly, my answer is the same. Most of those rushes are media driven just like the fears of dying.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Paula Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 I just keep washing my hands 500 times a day and go on with life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GetMeOuttaThisMess Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 Or just wear Subway (eatery) gloves and each time you touch something change out like they do. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reality Check 2 Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 I frankly worried more about MRSA and bringing it home to kids. Used to strip down in the laundry room and go straight to shower while clothes were on sanitize cycle if I had a known abscess or carrier that day. Also got my IM rocephin back in the day after intubating bacterial meningitis patient in ER. This stuff comes with the job. Wash your hands. Use common sense. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cideous Posted March 2, 2020 Author Share Posted March 2, 2020 Sigh......... https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-03-01/coronavirus-west-coast-scrambles?utm_source=LAT+Breaking+News&utm_campaign=1eba751cd9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_03_01_11_56&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b3d39b0044-1eba751cd9-85563621 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted March 2, 2020 Moderator Share Posted March 2, 2020 2 hours ago, Reality Check 2 said: Also got my IM rocephin back in the day after intubating bacterial meningitis patient in ER. This stuff comes with the job. Wash your hands. Use common sense. last time I had one we all got single dose PO Cipro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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