1 / 16

A day (nearly) like any other: health care work in a pandemic

A day (nearly) like any other: health care work in a pandemic. PhD candidate csai4938@uni.sydney.edu.au. Caroline Saint. In 1893 “[w]hen they take up nursing they know they must meet infectious diseases and are prepared to nurse them ...”.

kyleigh-dallaher
Download Presentation

A day (nearly) like any other: health care work in a pandemic

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. A day (nearly) like any other:health care work in a pandemic PhD candidate csai4938@uni.sydney.edu.au Caroline Saint

  2. In 1893 “[w]hen they take up nursing they know they must meet infectious diseases and are prepared to nurse them ...”. Matron McMaster, The Coast Hospital Little Bay (NSW)

  3. PANDEMIC “prevalent throughout an entire country or continent, or the whole world” The Macquarie Dictionary Online

  4. 1918-19201918-1920 Influenza Pandemic

  5. A closely watched virus … But there are others …

  6. Surveys – pre-2009 pandemic

  7. SARS vs INFLUENZA

  8. SARS vs INFLUENZA

  9. RISK SARS low risk of getting the disease in the community (with a relatively high risk of dying if you did) As opposed to INFLUENZA a high risk of getting the disease in the community (with a relatively low risk of dying as a consequence)

  10. Work during a pandemic An ‘express contractual’ obligation to work during “a pandemic or other societal medical emergency” be included in employment contracts Malm, Heidi et al, 'Ethics, Pandemics, and the Duty to Treat' (2008) 8(8) American Journal of Bioethics 4

  11. Employment contract and pandemic influenza Fundamental basis of the employment contract is to work in return for money Health care workers are employed to provide care to sick people

  12. 1918-1920 (the ‘worst ever’) Pandemic “most nurses and physicians continued to work safely – without patient isolation equipment; personal protective equipment or measures; antiviral or antibacterial medications; or vaccines against influenza or respiratory bacteria” Shanks, G. Dennis et al, 'Low but highly variable mortality among nurses and physicians during the influenza pandemic of 1918–1919' (2011) Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses , 213

  13. TORONTO 1918-1919 Slonim, Karen, “Send only your serious cases." Delivering flu to Toronto: An anthropological analysis of the 1918-1919 Influenza Epidemic in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Doctorate of Philosophy Thesis, University of Missouri-Columbia, 2010)

  14. Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 Risk for Frontline Health Care Workers Marshall, Caroline et al, 2011, Emerging Infectious Diseases, 17(6), Clinical and non-clinical staff had similar levels of antibodies - small difference not significant Found rates of antibodies in staff similar to that found in the community • Risk at work didn’t seem any higher • Staff at risk at work – not only from patients • Workers with children at home had biggest risk

  15. Life has risks …

More Related