Ebola Ethical Obligations

20. Why are gloves portrayed as the most important part of the defense against Ebola?. What is the decon shower for and what is the value of the pressurized suit?

Gloves, goggles, masks and gowns are minimum recommended requirements of PPE in any clinical environment where contact with blood or bodily fluid is likely (HSE 2011). Although wearing gloves does not prevent injury. It minimises exposure and cross contamination, reducing the risk of infection (AFPP 2011). The healthcare professional in the diary decided not to wear gloves because they catch on her rings and tear. This suggests that the rings have jagged edges or stones, which potentially could cause injury to the patient and also pose as an infection risk. Professional guidelines also dictate that staff should be bare below the

The standard treatment for Ebola is still limited to supportive therapy as no vaccines are yet available for clinical use. The supportive therapy consists of balancing the patient’s fluids and electrolytes, maintaining the patient’s oxygen status and blood pressure, and treating the patient for any complicating infections. Treatment from the day the virus is contracted is important but extremely challenging due to the fact that Ebola is very difficult to diagnose in its early stages of infection. However, if a person has the early symptoms of Ebola and there is reason to believe that Ebola should be considered it is extremely important that the patient is isolated

As a nurse I fully understood the medical consequences and knew the risks I was taking, by volunteering to leave my home in the United Kingdom to help treat the sick patients in the nations of Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and now Senegal. My primary concern was to help prevent a global health crisis, and now that I have been exposed to the Ebola virus, which has a mortality rate that fluctuates somewhere between 50 - 90% I have been informed, I myself may be a potential victim. As a nurse I follow the guidelines of clinical ethics and I believe in respect for autonomy and within that, patients have a right to seek the desired medical provider of their liking, as well as the desired medical procedures they wish to endure. I would like the committee to approve the use of

Scientists and scholars in the Medical field are proactively coming out with breakthrough technology and medication that will further our knowledge on disease treatment and diagnosis. With the current Ebola epidemic which has recently plagued the South African countries, a new drug has been developed by the United States to treat the disease and has brought into question a wide array of ethical issues. The main question that is brought up is, do we give these people the treatment which has already shown effects of recovery in two American Ebola patients? Denis Thompson’s article “Ebola drugs raise ethical dilemmas,” explores a multitude of scientifically valid reasons as to why it would be a bad idea to administer “new”

Standard precautions also known as universal precautions are a set of basic infection prevention practices intended to avoid transmission of infectious diseases from one person to another. Since we do not often know exactly if a person has an infectious disease, standard precautions are applied to every individual at all time to assure that the spread of disease does not occur, since we do not often know exactly if a person has an infectious disease or not. In addition, health care workers should use extra protective barriers such as masks, gloves, eye protection (goggle), personal protective equipment (PPE) gown, and power air purifying respirators (PAPRs) or N95 respirators depending on the patient illness and expected degree of contact

Governments, WHO, and the international community have a collective responsibility not only to fully staff the effort to bring Ebola under control, but also to provide adequate protective clothing, training, and support for anyone coming into contact with patients.” (Lancet) This opinion is prevalent throughout medical health care providers. Two nurses who treated Duncan at the Dallas hospital have already contracted this dreaded disease. These nurses have been transferred from the local hospital in Dallas to hospitals that have isolation units, and staff trained in dealing with very contagious infections. One nurse went to Emory University Hospital, and the other flew to the National Institutes of

Ebola, once transmitted to a human is referred as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is an uncommon viral infection that deliberately targets every part of the human body with the exception of the skeletal system. When this lethal disease enters the host, it will first cause pain throughout the body and dramatically increase the body's temperature. Next, internal and external bleeding tends to occur, specifically form the face. After that, it will simply destroy the bodily tissue that holds the host's organs together. Aside from this, what the virus actually does and how it is transmitted, little to nothing is known due to the complex structure of the infectious disease, as there are five identified Ebola virus species. Four of the five affect humans

The first outbreak of Ebola happened in 1976 in Zaire, Africa, from which it got its name. It is believed that the eating of fruit bats and primates is where Ebola first exposed itself in humans. People didn’t know what to think. Scientist began doing a lot of research and breaking the cells down that made up this deadly virus. They discovered that the Ebola virus is a member of the negative strand of RNA viruses known as filoviruses. (Facts behind the Virus 2). There are four different strains of Ebola which are Zaire, Sudan, Tai, and Reston. (Farmer 1). They are alike in many different ways but also have their share of differences. Reston ebolavirus is the only one that isn’t pathogenic to humans. Whenever the scientists magnified the virus, they discovered that it resembles long filaments and are threadlike in the shape of a “U”. The virus has seven gene codes for nucleoprotein, glycoprotein, virion protein, VP30, VP35, VP45, and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (Mestrovic

The four major strategies for managing Ebola patients include: isolation, malaria treatment, broad spectrum antibiotics and antipyretics before diagnosis. Present management for ebola is mainly symptomatic and supportive. Isolation includes keeping the patient in a single room with a private bathroom and closed door. Facilities should keep a log of all healthcare workers and others that enter the patients room. The room should have dedicated medical equipment for the patient care, and nondedicated items need to be thorurougly cleaned and disinfected. All healthcare workers need to use personal protective equipment and appropriate precautions. This strategy helps in containment of the virus and prevents outbreaks in communities. Another strategy

PPE such as gowns, gloves, masks, and goggles provide physical barriers that prevent the hands, skin, clothing, eyes, nose, and mouth from coming in contact with pathogens. PPE is used to reduce the spread of infections and diseases when other measures such as work practices cannot completely eliminate exposure. PPE protects your body and others from coming into to skin to skin contact and also prevents the spreading on to clothes etc. Wearing a mask protects you from any airborne

Ebola is caused by an infection with a virus. There are five identified Ebola virus species, four of which are known to cause disease in humans: Ebola virus, Sudan virus, Taï Forest virus, and Bundibugyo virus.The fifth, Reston virus, has caused disease in nonhuman primates, but not in humans. Ebola is a disease that spread extremely fast in Guinea and all over Africa it is killing off many Africans. The first case of Ebola was in December 2013 in Guinea. People deserted hospitals and went home, fueling the rapid spread of the virus. Lagos, a city with a population of 22 million people, experienced eight Ebola deaths. A village of about 1,000 people in Sierra Leone has been placed under quarantine following the death of 67-year-old woman from

For example, we know that the Aids virus is readily killed with soap and water and by common disinfectants. You should avoid touching your mouth, eyes, or any items contaminated by blood, feces, or other body secretions. Personnel with wounds or abrasions on exposed body surfaces, such as the hands or face, should try to protect those areas from contact when emergency treatment is being given. It is good practice to wear disposable gloves while handling

Based on the findings from the assessment, corrective measures can be put in place to ensure that health workers do not contact the virus when on duty. If the number of health workers who were competent in proper use of PPE and they used it as per manufacture’s instructions and still contracted the virus, then they may a need to asses the PPE to ensure that it is of high quality to protect personnel from infection. This can be achieved through working with regulatory authorities, WHO and stringent regulatory authorities to ensure that manufactures who supply PPE are certified. Future PPE should be acquired from manufacture’s whose PPE meet the required specifications for EBOLA PPE. Since EBOLA is transmitted through blood and other body fluids, PPE which does resistant to fluid penetration should be used in order to prevent infection of health workers. A pool of selected certified suppliers who meet the specifications can be identified for future outbreak response. It is important to have a pool to ensure that in case of outbreaks, the right

People who care for those infected with Ebola should wear protective clothing, including, gloves, gowns and goggles. Ebola experts say that no skin should be exposed these measures should also be given to people who handle objects that are contaminatedby Ebola victim.