topic Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes in Community Chat

How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

Marp2 — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 18:29:03 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Fever? Headache? Muscle aches? Forget about Ebola — chances are astronomically higher that you have the flu or some other common bug.

That message still hasn't reached many Americans, judging from stories ER doctors and nurses swapped this week at a Chicago medical conference. Misinformed patients with Ebola-like symptoms can take up time and resources in busy emergency rooms, and doctors fear the problem may worsen when flu season ramps up.

That's one reason why doctors say this year it's especially important for patients to get their flu shots: Fewer flu cases could mean fewer Ebola false alarms.

"The whole system gets bogged down, even if it's a false alarm," Dr. Kristi Koenig said during a break at the American College of Emergency Physicians' annual meeting.

Since the first Ebola diagnosis in the U.S., on Sept. 30 in a Liberian man treated in Dallas, doctors say they've had to reassure patients with many fears but none of the risk factors.

Examples shared by those attending the meeting include:

—An Ohio patient who thought she had Ebola because her husband had worked in Dallas, but not with the Ebola patient.

—A New Mexico woman who sought ER testing for Ebola because she had visited Africa two years ago.

—Two Alabama patients who worried they were infected after traveling through an airport in Atlanta, the same city where Ebola patients were treated.

Those Alabama patients had intestinal symptoms but no contact with Ebola patients nor recent travel to Ebola-plagued countries in West Africa, and they were sent home after doctors consulted with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Dr. David Pigott, an emergency medicine specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

More: http://apnews.myway.com//article/20141030/us-med-ebola-flu-advice-3a53ac6975.html

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

brii — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 18:38:04 GMT

That was bound to happen.

It's flu season and early symptoms of Ebola (and many other illnesses) mirror flu symptoms.

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

QueenDanceALot — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 18:44:03 GMT

Unless everyone gets on the same page with this it's only going to get worse.

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

Elstongunn — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 18:52:17 GMT

Good Grief.

The hospital emergency rooms should post huge signs at the entrances that state:

"If you are exhibiting flu-like symptoms and have NOT been in direct/intimate contact with an Ebola patient NOR have you been to West Africa in the past year, you will not be seen in this Emergency Room. Go home and make an appointment to see your doctor."

There's a limit to coddling idiots. They shouldn't be allowed to tie up precious resources with their nonsense.

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

chrystaltree — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 18:58:38 GMT

I don't know where that came from but it makes no sense to me whatsoever because a person who walks into an ER with flu like symptoms and a high fever and has NOT travelled from or had close contact with another who travelled from such a country...will not have any risks for Ebola. So, the person who made that up really needs to rethink it. People aren't going to wake up with a sore throat and a fever and think "I have Ebola". But it is important for everyone to get a flu shot....so they won't get and spread....the flu. Which does clog up doctor's offices and ER's.

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

DoneTryin — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 19:05:29 GMT

Yes, I'm more "fearful" of the flu germs flying around in public places, like at work, the supermarket, etc., than I am of catching Ebola.

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

scotttie — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 19:35:15 GMT

Since my thread was poofed, I hope kdgn stops by because I may have an answer to her question:

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/diagnosis/index.html

The way I read this document, the virus doesn't show up in your blood until you are symptomatic.

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

Qwackertoo — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 19:37:57 GMT

I was about to post this on the poofed thread and thanks to Marp & kdg on the blood test info.

Makes me wonder about the test or ability to detect that isn't FDA approved yet . . . how quick it could detect it?

I guess they "fast-tracked" approval . . .

The Ebola virus, while incubating, is at such a low level in the blood that it likely would not be detected by the FilmArray test, he said. It might be detectable a day before symptoms appear, but "almost certainly not" three weeks before symptoms appear.

The FilmArray and Ebola tests have been used at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, where four patients with Ebola have been treated. Doctors there could track the level of virus in their patients’ blood day-by-day, Rasmussen said.

About 1,000 FilmArray machines are already in use in 300 U.S. hospitals.

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

Say Nay — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 19:39:24 GMT

How about doing what is possible first?

Start with Public Service Messages that educate people. I would think that would be more effective than telling people to get flu shots when many don't want them.

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

scotttie — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 19:41:35 GMT

On 10/30/2014 Qwackertoo said:
I was about to post this on the poofed thread and thanks to Marp & kdg on the blood test info.

Makes me wonder about the test or ability to detect that isn't FDA approved yet . . . how quick it could detect it?

I guess they "fast-tracked" approval . . .

The Ebola virus, while incubating, is at such a low level in the blood that it likely would not be detected by the FilmArray test, he said. It might be detectable a day before symptoms appear, but "almost certainly not" three weeks before symptoms appear.

The FilmArray and Ebola tests have been used at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, where four patients with Ebola have been treated. Doctors there could track the level of virus in their patients’ blood day-by-day, Rasmussen said.

About 1,000 FilmArray machines are already in use in 300 U.S. hospitals.

Thanks Qwacker. Unfortunately certain posters took my thread political and got it removed.

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

Qwackertoo — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 19:42:27 GMT

more info

Rapidly screening for Ebola at U.S. hospitals has just gotten easier thanks to military-funded technology. Salt Lake City-based BioFire announced over the weekend that they had received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for hospital workers to use their polymerase chain reaction (PCR) screening machine, the FilmArray, to screen for Ebola.

It’s the same machine that the U.S. military is using to fight the disease in Africa. But until Saturday, the FDA approved FilmArray for Ebola screening for research purposes only in U.S. hospitals.

The Dallas hospital that treated Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who became the first individual to die of Ebola in the United States, but was not authorized to use it to test patients showing symptoms of Ebola.

- See more at: http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2014/10/28/New-Rapid-Test-Ebola-Gets-FDA-Approval#sthash.ZkQAO6Mt.dpuf

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

QueenDanceALot — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 19:44:47 GMT

I'm not afraid of ebola OR the flu.

I live in KittyLaLaLand.

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

brii — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 19:47:04 GMT

On 10/30/2014 KittyLouWhoToo said:
I'm not afraid of ebola OR the flu.

I live in KittyLaLaLand.

I'm not afraid either.

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

dex — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 19:47:43 GMT

But what if somehow you had been in contact with an ebola contaminated surface but were unaware...then you start with the symptoms and assume it is the flu and later when you are so sick that you must be taken to the hospital you cpuld potentially infect many people and workers Before you get a diagnosis.

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

straykatz — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 19:51:16 GMT

Examples shared by those attending the meeting include:

—An Ohio patient who thought she had Ebola because her husband had worked in Dallas, but not with the Ebola patient.

—A New Mexico woman who sought ER testing for Ebola because she had visited Africa two years ago.

—Two Alabama patients who worried they were infected after traveling through an airport in Atlanta, the same city where Ebola patients were treated.

Extreme examples.....I don't think these are the norm....while most people I know have concerns about the "possible" spread of this disease they are not worrying or thinking they have it when there was ZERO risk on their part....in fact....I work not far from the Dallas hospital where Duncan was 1st treated and eventually died.

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

focksie — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 19:57:14 GMT

Marp, your OP not only points to the importance of getting flu shots...it also points to the importance of healthcare workers returning from WA following state protocols so that they do not become another confounding factor and a potential hazard to the community.

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

dex — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 19:59:38 GMT

There are so many people from the infected regions coming to the US daily that you never know if you have had contact with someone that is going to become ill.

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

NoelSeven — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 20:01:29 GMT

It's odd that some people here want anyone that ever came near Africa or an ebola patient quarantined, yet they refuse to get a flu shot to protect people around them.

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

Marp2 — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 20:01:50 GMT

On 10/30/2014 MomTo2Dogs said:
How about doing what is possible first?

Start with Public Service Messages that educate people. I would think that would be more effective than telling people to get flu shots when many don't want them.

That has been tried and failed miserably.

Re: How To Overwhelm A System And Increasing Chances Of Mistakes

NoelSeven — Thu, 30 Oct 2014 20:04:04 GMT

On 10/30/2014 Marp2 said:
On 10/30/2014 MomTo2Dogs said:
How about doing what is possible first?

Start with Public Service Messages that educate people. I would think that would be more effective than telling people to get flu shots when many don't want them.

That has been tried and failed miserably.

Yes it has. We see examples here every day.