Should People With Infectious Diseases Be Allowed in EMS?

[UtProsim]

were you one of those kids who didn't get to do what you wanted and you spent all your time in your room? You sound like you speak from experience.

You have got to be kidding me, now your attacking me for trying to put myself in the shoes of others? WOW, and to answer your question, Absolutely not, I went out and worked damn hard to get where I am today! and to be quite frank about it, I didn't have a room to go to, I didn't have time to feel sorry for myself, I was too busy trying to make a life for myself at the tender age of 16, with no parents, and right out of foster care, how about that? I am a Christian, I believe in standing up for others, I believe in putting myself in their shoes, and I believe in not judging them, and I believe in overcoming circumstances, and to the best of my ability, helping others to do the same.

Ut Prosim....... that is my name on here, it is Latin and it stands for "That I may Serve"

that I may serve my God, Jesus Christ, that I may serve my fellow man, my brothers and sisters in Christ, to the best of my ability, with compassion, and without judgment.

[Just Plain Ruff]

good I'm a christian too but you have to realize that some people who bitch and moan about those who are downtrodden often have been in their shoes.

it's one thing to take to the defense of the underserved but you know what, not many people really give a rats ass about your belief system.

Keep your faith, keep your passion but this is definately not the right place to come and try to save others(religiously at least) You will find that subsequent posters here will more than likely disagree or oppose what your thoughts are.

You will find that the majority of people out there do not want to hear your testimony and your belief system and that's fine if they don't want to do that.

I should not have asked if you were one of those people but your post made me lump you into one in the same.

how long have you been an emt and a christian?

[UtProsim]

I should not have asked if you were one of those people but your post made me lump you into one in the same.

how long have you been an emt and a christian?

First of all, Thank you for the apology, and I did not mean to "preach" if I did, then it wasn't my intention, I was just trying to respond to what you had said, in the most appropriate way I could think of at the time,....to answer your question...I have been an EMT since October of 2007, so about 6 months.....and I have been a Christian my whole life. I apologize if I have offended you in any way, that was never my intention.

[VentMedic]

You don't see me suing the NBA because they won't pay a 5'6" white boy $10 million a year. And you also don't see me going on CNN and whining about how my feelings are hurt by it.

Magic Johnson confronted these issues in 1991. He was also a member of the Dream Team for U.S. basketball which won the Olympic gold medal in 1992.

The same "what if" arguments posted on this thread were used in 1991. The world knew alot less about HIV back then. Yet, the some of the same lack of education and reasoning still exists.

You don't hear these discussions by other educated healthcare professionals. Maybe the years of mandatory HIV/AIDS/HCV education in the colleges and work places have paid off. Through that education and the realization of risks in everyday life have made them practice their profession more efficiently and not fearfully. They know their coworkers with HIV and HCV are just as well educated, and probably more, about their diseases and risks. Maybe some here are assuming that because the infected person is an EMT or Paramedic, they are not educated enough to know the risks or precautions about their disease and will infect others due to that lack of education. Some of the "what if" arguments presented in this thread have made EMTs and Paramedics out to be pretty ignorant in the way they would "unknowingly" go about infecting their patients. Even those that are not infected are cautious about not dripping their blood on their patients.

There is a very good chance that someone on this forum will contract or have contracted TB to which they test positive for the rest of their life, HCV or possibly HIV through personal or professional contact. Some may already be positive and not even know it, yet. In the year 2008, with our medical advancements and education, should that mean you quit being an EMT or Paramedic and just give up? I would hope not. There are many HCWs out there in this situation. Fortunately the numbers are not shocking and majority of the exposure (except TB) is through personal/intimate contact. Those who become symptomatic or whose T-cells drop will look for work out of direct patient care. That is the real world.

[boneknuckleskin]

In EMS, we know already that the general public's 'knee-jerk reaction' to HIV, AIDS and the various strains of hepatitis, would be similar to"OMG! He/she sweated on me, and now I'm gonna get it!"; "He/She touched me with no gloves, now I'm infected!"

Further, in EMS, we know what routes are necessary for the transmission of infectious diseases, and we should act responsibly.

No, that is the general idiot's knee jerk reaction. When standard percautions are used, there is negligible or only theoretical risks to you or your patient. CDC estimates put 4-5% of the general population seropositive for Hepatitis C, and those numbers have been demonstrated to be higher among EMS professionals in certain locales, especially California. So it is likely that there are people reading this right now who are infected with Hepatitis, and they may not even know it yet. I think the problem here is city wide ignorance. You especially. If EMS personnel were more involved with their health and routine testing, then those hypotherical MVC scenes with the blood gushing from your open wound down your patient's throat could be avoided all together with some added vigilance. And Dust, do YOU micro much? How could you say something so stupid?

[Dustdevil]

And Dust, do YOU micro much? How could you say something so stupid?

Dude, I've got as many posts in this thread as you have on the entire forum, so you're going to have to be a little more specific about what you are referring to if you want me or anybody else to know what you are talking about.

Is there some microbiological point that I have misstated here? Please share with us your vast expertise and enlighten all of us who apparently don't get it.

[Lone Star]

boneknuckleskin,

I'm going to ask you the same question that I've asked everyone else taking part in this thread....where do you draw the line between 'acceptable risk' and unacceptable risk'?

Is the risk only acceptable because its a patient's life we're talking about? Would the same 'its only a minor risk' mentality be as prevalent if it were you as the patient?

[DwayneEMTP]

Again LS, I'm going to follow your logic here and restate something...

If no risk is acceptable, then you, as someone that's been injured, historically will be at a much higher risk to be injured again, perhaps during lifting, or moving a pt, than someone that hasn't been injured in the past. (Anecdotal from a doc, I don't have documents to support it. Besides, the logic stands without docs.)

So are you in fact prepared to flush your knowledge and experience down the drain,(or as your argument suggests, should have already done), for the good of the patient?

You could become re injured and drop a critical patient at a catastrophic moment, or be unable to help the stroke or cardiac patient be carried down the stairs to immediate transport, or unable to adjust an airway at a critical time, right?

Have you in fact shredded your EMS certs and moved on to your next career? It is, after all, the only responsible thing to do. Isn't it?

And I still maintain that I would have no issue with an HIV+ person treating me or my family for the reasons stated, ad nauseum, before this. Nothing to do with being PC, or sensitive to the plight of those infected. It's simply good science.

Dwayne

[IllinoisRN]

As a nurse working around so many people everyday, I agree that People with any infectuous disease should not be in the health care field at all, if its a danger to them, obviously it will be a danger to not only us, but pts.

[Just Plain Ruff]

isn't it about time to let this thread ride off into the sunset and retire?