Here is a refreshing press release from two highly esteemed professional medical organizations, requesting that the public does not go over the deep end and start keeping huge private stashes of Tamifu. What is so wonderful about this release is that it clearly states that there is no pandemic now; that the number of bird to human cases has been tiny; and that the vast majority who became ill had very close contact with infected birds (like drinking raw blood–next best thing to injecting it into your veins).

This press release, issued by two two organizations who are supposed to be experts in this sort of thing, is the most refreshing thing I’ve come across since the whole bird flu hysteria began. They actually offer concrete and simple advice for protecting yourself against the flu in the first place. Imagine that.

Infectious Disease Doctors Urge Public Not to Hoard Tamiflu

Groups Say National, Institutional Stockpiles Needed to Protect Against Pandemic Flu

The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) are urging members of the public not to stockpile oseltamivir (Tamiflu), amid concerns about a possible shortage of the antiviral drug that is used to treat influenza.

In a joint position statement released today, the groups outlined recommendations for national, institutional, and personal stockpiles to help protect against the threat of pandemic influenza.

“Although the world needs to be prepared for a flu pandemic in the future, it’s important to keep in mind that there is no pandemic right now,” said Martin J. Blaser, MD, president of IDSA. “Even the H5N1 virus that is currently circulating in Asia and Europe primarily causes a disease affecting birds. There have been very few cases of bird-to-human transmission. Most of those who became sick were in very close contact with poultry.”

“The threat of a pandemic to the American public is so low right now that it simply doesn’t justify personal stockpiles of antivirals,” said Leonard Mermel, DO, ScM, president of SHEA. “We need this drug to treat sick people who will suffer from human strains of flu this winter.”

Currently, there are insufficient doses of antiviral drug available to protect the United States and the world against a pandemic influenza outbreak. Roche, the manufacturer of oseltamivir, is working to increase the supply. The company also recently has taken steps to assure the drug’s availability during this year’s influenza season by restricting its shipment to pharmacies until influenza is seen in a community.

The IDSA/SHEA statement notes that there are several simple steps that individuals can take to protect themselves and their family members from influenza. “Wash your hands. Cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze. If you are sick, stay home. If you are well, avoid close contact with people who are sick,” said James Steinberg, MD, a SHEA member who helped to draft the position statement. “One of the most effective things you can do to protect yourself from normal, seasonal flu is to get a flu shot,” he added.

“If there were an actual pandemic, public health agencies would recommend additional measures, such as avoiding crowds and travel, or working from home if necessary,” said IDSA’s Dr. Blaser. “In terms of stockpiling supplies at home, people may want to have a supply of pasta, canned foods, and basic medical supplies, just as they would to prepare for any disaster.”

Although it’s important for the public not to panic, the two groups, which represent infectious diseases and infection control experts, are urging federal policymakers and local health care institutions to have sufficient stockpiles to treat sick people and maintain the health care system in the event of a pandemic.

The federal government currently has only enough oseltamivir treatment courses for about 1 percent to 2 percent of the U.S. population. IDSA has strongly advocated expanding the national stockpile to include sufficient antivirals to treat at least 25 percent or ideally 40 percent of the population.

In the new statement, IDSA and SHEA advise health care facilities to have enough supply of the drugs to reduce hospitalizations and mortality and maintain social order and function in the event of a severe pandemic. “Hospitals will need to be able to treat those who are sick and keep their own doors open,” said Kathleen Neuzil, MD, MPH, chair of the IDSA Pandemic Influenza Task Force.

Although needs will vary from institution to institution, the IDSA/SHEA statement offers some examples. “These drugs have a shelf life of five years, so one approach for a hospital might be to keep in stock about five times as much drug as typically used in an average influenza season,” Dr. Neuzil said.

Given the current shortage of antiviral drugs, IDSA and SHEA do not recommend that institutions stockpile enough drugs to prevent illness among health care workers because this strategy requires much greater drug supplies than early treatment and could deplete the reserve necessary for treatment on a national level.

“This recommendation could change if drug supplies increase in the future,” Dr. Neuzil said. “When one considers the cost and loss of workers caused by illness among nurses and doctors, it may make sense for hospitals to have adequate supplies to use the drug to prevent illness among health care workers who are seeing patients with flu. But we don’t have enough drug to do that yet,” she added.

“The current bird flu virus that has everyone so worried may never develop into a pandemic,” Dr. Neuzil said. “But there is near universal agreement among infectious disease experts that another influenza pandemic will come one day. We need to take that threat seriously, and we need to be prepared.”

I am soooo tired of seeing bird flu in the news. It is never ending, the same story twisted and turned, but not saying anything that we haven’t already heard repeatedly. If there was a new angle to the story, I could see reporting on it, but there is nothing really new to report.

Here’s an example. Today the Washington Post reports that “Bush Is Expected To Outline Antiflu Plan.” Wow, isn’t that hot news. Why not just wait with this “breaking” story until he actually does come up with a plan, and then tell us about it.

And here’s another beauty from News 24.com–”US gears up for super flu.” And just how are we gearing up? Are we doing anything more than we were last week, or last month? No, nada. If you read the article, it again is just a rehash of bird flu rhetoric, the stories that have been on instant replay for the past year.

I guess there’s this fear that if we miss a day of bird flu chatter, then the public might start to forget about it.

Today was one of those days that is over before you even knew it started. Since I’m leaving for a conference in a few days, I’ve got to get my act together and get something done. But I really just want to sit and work on my “creative” work, as opposed to the work that brings in money. Not that I don’t want to make money from my creative stuff, but it’s a long term thing with no guarantees.

Oh well. At least I don’t have to report to work right now in a hospital, as the night shift is about to begin.

Jay Leno had the audacity to make a joke about nurses. Can you imagine one being so cruel, as to make fun of the nursing profession? I didn’t hear his joke because I don’t watch the Tonight Show, but a member of the nurse police, who apparently scans the media for all such infractions, voiced a vehement objection on a nurse forum.

The poster wrote something to the effect of that she had just watched the Tonight Show, and Jay Leno make a really rude comment about nurses. “It went something to the effect of… ” you know nurses are the most overworked profession in America… especially in those adult movies.” GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

The subject line of the post was “Jay Leno slams nurses.” Now, while his remark was a little silly, I would hardly say that he is slamming nurses. Leno is a comedian, afterall, and the Tonight Show has a long history of making fun of people, professions, stories in the news, and so on. Nurses are part of our society. They are fair game.

The militant nurse police, the ones who feel that the bad press and the entertainment industry is responsible for the nursing shortage, are probably busy trying to organize boycotts of the Tonight Show. How dare Jay Leno not realize that nurses are more sacred than the Virgin Mary, and sit higher than everyone else in the universe.

Fortunately, I was relieved to see that a large number of posters thought nothing of it, and that there was nothing wrong with telling jokes about nurses. Of course, there were a few who were advocating for lynching Leno for daring to make a snide remark about the sacred nurse, and then went into the whole kit and kaboodle about nurses not getting respect and how this wasn’t helping….and by that time I was yawning.

Two posters, I think, summed up the situation better than I can:

None of us want to be viewed as sex kittens or anything that degrades us as professionals. But we need to react lighter…….it really was poking fun…………part of the monolog……..part of a misconception that honestly I think few people believe………………..there is too much over reaction out there and those that do essentially shoot thmeselves in the foot.

And another:

I wasn’t that offended by it. It was a part of his monolog … a context in which he pokes fun at everything. “The Tonight Show” monolog has been a national tradition for over 30 years …. first with Steve Allen, then Jack Parr, then Johnny Carson, now Jay Leno. The monolog pokes fun at national institutions, public figures, etc. — everybody gets a little teasing equally — especially the high and mighty.

Another poster noted that if nurses “can’t take a little gentle ribbing from such a respected and traditional source, then we have a problem.”

And the best: “We need to pick our battles carefully.”

With all of the problems in nursing, is a joke from the lips of Jay Leno, a noted and well established comedian, really a serious faux pas to nurses? I think the person who started the thread, and those who agree that Leno committed a cardinal sin, really do have a little too much time on their hands. And maybe by lashing out at Leno, it makes them feel better for permitting themselves to be abused in the workplace, or for not standing up for themselves and their profession when it counts.

This sort of reminds me of a person worrying about avian flu, but ignoring the fact that she has AIDS.

Not very good news for those of us who value the quality of our foods. If the label says organic, then I want it to mean just that. I don’t want standards weakened, and in fact, they need to be strengthened. But as usual, our lawmakers have succumbed to big agribusiness, the corporations who wish that organic farmers would just board a flight to Venus and never return.

The best thing to do is to try to eat as little processed food as possible, which is much better for your health anyway. Buy foods in their freshest and most natural forms. And continue to push your lawmakers to think of the public, and not the financial rewards granted by big business.

INDUSTRY SNEAK ATTACK ON ORGANIC STANDARDS RAMMED THROUGH CONGRESS

Despite receiving over 350,000 letters and phone calls from OCA members and the organic community, Republican leaders in Congress October 27 attached a rider to the 2006 Agricultural Appropriations Bill to weaken the nation’s organic food standards in response to pressure from large-scale food manufacturers. “Congress voted last night to weaken the national organic standards that consumers count on to preserve the integrity of the organic label,” said Ronnie Cummins, National Director of the Organic Consumers Association. “The process was profoundly undemocratic and the end result is a serious setback for the multi billion dollar alternative food and farming system that the organic community has so painstakingly built up over the past 35 years.

As passed, the amendment sponsored by the Organic Trade Association allows: Numerous synthetic food additives and processing aids, including over 500 food contact substances, to be used in organic foods without public review. Young dairy cows to continue to be treated with antibiotics and fed genetically engineered feed prior to being converted to organic production. Loopholes under which non-organic ingredients could be substituted for organic ingredients without any notification of the public based on “emergency decrees.” OCA will work to reverse this rider with an “Organic Restoration Act” in Congress in 2006. http://www.organicconsumers.org/sos.cfm

Witches and goblins and ghouls, oh my! If you believe in the supernatural, then these may well be real creatures to reckon with, and your fear is based on reality. But on the other hand, if you just get into Halloween for the fun of it, ie, a chance to play dress-up, then our fear is make believe.

A very interesting opinion piece in the NY Times, written by a medical doctor, points out the yearly Halloween ritual of the media, in producing one frightening medical crisis after another. Some are serious problems, such as the “flesh eating bacteria” but have remained obscure (thankfully) and never panned into the crisis that was predicted. Ditto for last year’s flu vaccine shortage. Well surprise, the death and hospitalization rate due to flu was unchanged, despite the lack of vaccine.

Just in time for Halloween, the usual yearly ritual of terror by headline is now playing itself out in medical offices everywhere. Last year it revolved around flu shots; a few years ago it was anthrax and smallpox; a few years before that it was the “flesh-eating bacteria”; and before that it was Ebola virus, and Lyme disease and so on back into the distant past. This year it’s the avian flu.

“I was crossing Third Avenue yesterday and I was coughing so hard I had to stop and barely made it across,” a patient told me last week. “I’m really scared I’m getting the avian flu.”

Thephysician goes on to say that this is a man who has been puffing away on two packs of cigarettes a day for half a century. He has emphysema. He has been wheezing and coughing for the better part of 10 years, and always gasps as he tries to make it across Third Avenue. So now why does this man think he has avian flu? Because of the fear factor, the news staring him in the face day in and day out.

But he doesn’t want to stop smoking, which may help his cough. Or help him get across the street. That is too real.

But the avian flu - now there’s a health scare a person can sink his teeth into. So scary and yet, somehow, so pleasantly distant. So thrilling, so chilling, and yet, at the same time, so not here, not now, not yet. All in all, a completely satisfying health care fear experience. Unlike his actual illness.

Scary movies give children nightmares. Scary health news gives adults the extraordinary ability to ignore the immediate in favor of the distant, to escape from the real (and the really scary) into a far easier kind of fear.

This article points out how the media, the hot news of the moment, literally creates the problems that people think that they should be worrying about. It offers people something abstract to worry about, rather than the clear and present danger staring at them in the face. It is a lot safer to worry about getting avian flu, for instance, then making an effort to lose weight because your diabetes is out of control.

The public loves the sensationalism of a new illness. Ah, the thrill, the intrigue. So much fun to worry over what may be, or the tiny possibility of catching mad cow disease even though you’re a vegetarian, rather than the real, rather mundane problems.

Of four patients I saw in a single hour last week, three announced how scared they were of the avian flu. I reassured them, but there was quite a bit I did not say, and here it is.

I did not say: If you want to be scared, then how about that drug habit of yours you think I don’t know about? How about the fact that you are 100 pounds overweight and eat nothing but junk? How about the fact that in a few short months Medicaid is going to stop paying for your very expensive medications and no one knows how just high that Medicare Part D deductible and co-payment are going to be? I did not say: If you want something to be scared of, how about the drug-resistant Klebsiella that is all over this very hospital, an ordinary run-of-the-mill bacterial strain that has become so resistant to so many antibiotics that we’ve had to resurrect a few we stopped using 30 years ago because they were so toxic.

That Klebsiella is one scary germ. It’s in hospitals all over the country, and by now it’s probably killed a thousandfold more people than the avian flu.

How many people are worrying about Klesiella? Not very many outside the infectious diseases community, that I can assure you. I remember how a Klebsiella outbreak in a newborn intensive care unit killed several of our patients. And then there’s methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA, which as mutated beyond the hospital walls and out into the community. The community acquired form has the potential to attack with a fierce virulence, and quite a few people have died from a severe necrotizing pneumonia, courtesy of MRSA.

Does that scare people as much as avian flu? The real McCoy vs. the potential threat.

But you don’t hear much about our Klebsiella. Like our bad habits and our dismally insoluble health insurance tangles, our antibiotic-resistant bacteria are with us, right here, right now. Apparently they all lack the drama, the suspense, the titillating worst-case situations that energize our politicians and turn into a really newsworthy health care scare.

They’re all just too real.

I couldn’t have said it better.

NY Times

I am thoroughly convinced the President Bush has no knowledge of mammal mating rituals, or of procreation between oxygen breathing creatures. I guess that he and Laura bought their twins from a goat herder up in Wyoming, because they surely didn’t originate from a confluence of George and Laura.

Surely this must be the reason that Bush remains unable to answer a simple question–what is your view on birth control? I have to assume that he can’t respond to a question about contraception because he doesn’t know what it is, what it is used for, or the basic biology of warm blooded mammals.

And even though I didn’t think it possible, the current press secretary, Scott McClellan, is even more of a moron than Ari Fleischer. I mean, Ari appears to be intelligent compared to this guy. In the press release and transcript which follows, pay close attention to the remarkable answers that McClellan has conceived. Do you think the guy’s IQ reaches the double digits?

Dodging the Birth Control Question

White House evasive again when asked if President supports birth control

WASHINGTON, DC - Yesterday, for the third time, White House spokesman Scott McClellan was directly asked if President Bush supports birth control, and for the third time, he could not give a direct answer (transcript below). A day after Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and 31 of her colleagues sent a letter to the president asking again if he opposes birth control, White House correspondent Les Kinsolving raised the question with McClellan. Kinsolving also has asked the question the two previous times.

“The White House still refuses to answer a insimple question about birth control - it’s now five months and counting,” said Maloney. “I guess we’ll have to wait for them to leak the answer. It’s truly amazing that in the 21st century, the Leader of the Free World will not affirm his support for birth control.”

On Monday, a group of 32 Members of Congress asked the president whether or not he opposes birth control. Maloney and a group of colleagues have twice before asked the president to clarify his position, but the White House has not answered.

Excerpt from October 25, 2005 White House Press Briefing:

Q Sure. New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and 31 other members of the House issued this statement yesterday: “We have a Supreme Court nominee who won’t even say if she supports a 40-year-old Supreme Court decision affirming women’s right to access birth control, and it is important the President tells the nation whether or not he opposes birth control, too.” And my question: Can you clarify whether or not he opposes birth control, too? Yes or no?

MR. McCLELLAN: Les, I think the President has made his views known on this issue.
Q Why don’t you just clarify, yes or no?
MR. McCLELLAN: And what the focus has been from this administration is on promoting abstinence programs, that that ought to be on the same level as the education funding for teen contraception programs. And that’s what the President’s position has been, and I’ve stated to that previously. You’ve asked this question before. I disagree with the statement that was made regarding Harriet Miers. She is going to be going before the Senate Judiciary Committee in less than two weeks. She looks forward to answering their questions. And I think that people should not try to rush to judgment on it.

The entire transcript of this briefing is available at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/10/20051025-1.html

Excerpt from July 18, 2005 White House Press Briefing:

Q I have one follow up. Nineteen members of Congress from seven states have written a letter to the President saying that they are still waiting for an answer to a May 26th question: Is the President opposed to contraception. And my question is, could they now have an answer to my question? Or do you regard them, too, as not to be dignified with a response?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I think we’ve talked about these issues before and these issues when it comes to the federal government and programs aimed at promoting abstinence and how those ought to be funded on at least equal footing with other programs, so I think we’ve addressed the President’s views in that context.

The entire transcript of this briefing is available at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/07/20050718-2.html

Excerpt from May 26, 2005 White House Press Briefing:

Q There are news reports this morning that parents and children who were guests of the President, when they visited Congress, wore stickers with the wording, “I was an embryo.” And my question is, since all of us were once embryos, and all of us were once part sperm and egg, is the President also opposed to contraception, which stops this union and kills both sperm and egg?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think the President has made his views known on these issues, and his views known -
Q You know, but what I asked, is he opposed — he’s not opposed to contraception, is he?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, and you’ve made your views known, as well. The President –
Q No, no, but is he opposed to contraception, Scott? Could you just tell us yes or no?
MR. McCLELLAN: Les, I think that this question is -
Q Well, is he? Does he oppose contraception?
MR. McCLELLAN: Les, I think the President’s views are very clear when it comes to building a culture of life –
Q If they were clear, I wouldn’t have asked.
MR. McCLELLAN: — and if you want to ask those questions, that’s fine. I’m just not going to dignify them with a response.

The entire transcript of this briefing is available at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/05/20050526-1.html

And this is a president who has nuclear weapons at his finger tips.

Make it a burger, fries and nutritional information to go. Seeking to counter charges that its food is unhealthy and contributes to obesity, McDonald’s Corp. announced Tuesday that it will display nutrition facts on the packaging for most of its menu items next year.

Patrons of the world’s largest restaurant company will be able to learn the amount of calories and fat, among other information, in a McDonald’s product by looking at the wrapper instead of having to go to its Web site or ask for it at the counter.

This bit of news seems like something that should be in National Lampoon or Mad Magazine. Surely McDonald’s is making a parody of itself?

Why, may I ask, is McDonald’s labeling their food? Just to waste paper? Sacrifice more trees and create more trash for landfill, by printing labels up? I mean, does anyone who eats there really care about the nutritional quality of the food? Or how many grams of fat are contained in each bite of that succulent double cheeseburger with bacon and lard on top?

Hint, hint–people who care about nutrition, and who are trying to lose weight, do not eat at the McDonald’s in the first place. McDonald’s labeling their dining fare is about as ridiculous as putting nutritional content labels on candy bars–which is case you haven’t noticed, do exist. Like someone who is about to bite into a Snickers bar is going to check and see if it contains Vitamin C or calcium, or cares how many calories he’s about to consume.

I really should start another category entitled “Idiocy in Health News.” This story about Mickey D can be the first one.
Washington Post

Some interesting research on AIDS:

Circumcision may reduce risk of AIDS

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Circumcising men can help protect them from the AIDS virus, researchers said Tuesday after finishing the first study that tried using the procedure specifically to prevent infection.

But United Nations health officials cautioned that more trials were necessary before they would recommend this as a method to protect against AIDS.

The circumcised men were 65 percent less likely to become infected with the deadly and incurable virus, the researchers told the International AIDS Society Conference in Rio de Janeiro

Could it be that the men were in so much pain, after getting their dick whacked, that they just kept their zippers up?

And now, for another entry into the great annals of healthcare history. I’m a day late, but well, such is life. Anton won’t hold it against me.

For those of you with a fascination for microbes, today (yesterday) marks the birth of one of the most famous experts on teensy organisms, and indeed, a man who certainly advanced the science that we now know as microbiology. I was forced to take microbiology, 2 semesters of it, as a prerequisite for nursing school, and it’s a shame that one of the professors was such a dork. I think her goal in life was to fail as many students as possible, by making her exams totally unreadable. Several students complained to the dean about her, so it wasn’t just my lack of intelligence or personal vendetta against this bitch that was making me imagine that she had some screws loose.

But back to the info at hand–onn this date in 1632, Anton van Leeuwenhoek was born in Delft, The Netherlands. Same city as the artist VerMeer. Van Leeuwenhoek was a cloth merchant by trade, not a scientist, but apparently, the sciences intrigued him far more than did his cottons and linens. He created over 400 primitive hand-ground lenses and completely fascinated by the unseen world, he used to his lenses to study the microscopic make-up of things such as hair, blood, etc. He was able to magnify specimens over 200 times, which was quite a featm, and hired an illustrator to draw the hidden world that he had discovered. With his microscopes, van Leeuwenhoek discovered bacteria, blood cells, sperm, microscopic nematodes and the rotifer, a minute aquatic organism.

I’m rather shocked that I haven’t gotten avalanche of nasty comments from the self-professed nurse police, considering all remarks I made about Suzanne Gordon’s article. Her name is sacred in some nursing circles, where she is viewed as one of the profession’s chief advocates. But as we all know, advocacy only goes so far when one does not have first hand experience. Gordon has never worked as a nurse, has never gone through the joke called nursing school, and her writings reflect that.

She has never dealt with bitchy co-workers, brain dead nurse managers, or have your saintly nursing colleagues tell you “This is how we do it here. You don’t like it, quit.” Gordon sees nurses in their philosophical form, and also doesn’t notice that many of nursing professions problems originate within the nurses themselves. As I said, she believes (at least from what she writes) that nurses are helpless victims waiting for their shining prince to save them. They are blameless in the vast sea of healthcare problems, and can do nothing of their own accord to help correct the situation.

So yes, I am surprised. Especially since I don’t feel that the media’s portrayal of nurses–which in general sucks–has any real impact on this nursing shortage, or of all of the shortages which came before.

Isn’t it amazing that the president of the United States is unable to answer a simple question? And what would that question be? Why, his feelings on birth control.

A number of our lawmakers have been trying to get a straight answer from the Bush squad for several months, but all they get is the infamous double talk that has become so synonomous with the Bush name. Obviously, George and Laura must be either using birth control or not having sex, since they only have one child (twins count as one time sex). So what gives with the silence? And many of the other members of the Bush don’t seem to be sporting flocks of offspring either. So somebody must be using contraceptives.

This is a press release from the office of Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney

The Question President Bush Refuses to Answer:

Is He Opposed to Birth Control?

Attacks against birth control on the rise, 32 Members of Congress try again to get an answer out of the White House

WASHINGTON, DC - Over the past few months, the White House has repeatedly and shockingly refused to answer one very simple question: Is the president opposed to birth control? Now, with opposition to birth control becoming more evident, and with Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers refusing to affirm the constitutional protection of the right to birth control, Rep. Carolyn Maloney and 31 colleagues are again asking the president whether or not he opposes birth control. Maloney and a group of colleagues have twice before asked the president to clarify his position, but the White House has not answered.

“Here we are in the 21st century, and we don’t even know if the Leader of the Free World supports birth control,” said Maloney. “The extreme radical right’s opposition to birth control has been dialed up, and we have a Supreme Court nominee who won’t even say if she supports a 40-year old Supreme Court decision affirming women’s right to access birth control. It is very important that at this particular time in this particular political climate, the president tells the nation whether or not he opposes birth control too.”

It is estimated that a full 95 percent of American women will use birth control at some point in their lives.

The letter was signed by: Reps. Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-14), Henry A. Waxman (CA-30), Charles B. Rangel, (NY-15), Barney Frank (MA-04), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-20), Pete Stark (CA-13), Tammy Baldwin (WI-02), Lois Capps (CA-23).Elijah E. Cummings (MD-07), Maurice D. Hinchey (NY-22), Linda T. Sanchez (CA-39), Ellen O. Tauscher (CA-10), Robert Wexler (FL-19), Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (IL-02), James P. McGovern (MA-03), Lynn C. Woolsey (CA-06), Joseph Crowley (NY-07), Hilda L. Solis (CA-32), Raul Grijalva (AZ-07), Steve Israel (NY-02), Janice D. Schakowsky (IL-09), Diane E. Watson (CA-33), Carolyn McCarthy (NY-04), Danny K. Davis (IL-07), Bob Filner (CA-51), Jay Inslee (WA-01), Gary L. Ackerman (NY-05), Zoe Lofgren (CA-16), Corrine Brown (FL-03), Michael M. Honda (CA-15), James P. Moran (VA-08), Rush D. Holt (NJ-12).

Did you know that the reason for the nursing shortage is the media? That nurses quit their jobs and leave the profession because they find medically related movies and TV shows offensive and unbecoming to the nursing profession? That the average nurse says, “I am quitting this job because of that television program! It makes me look like a fool, and doesn’t show what a noble experience nursing is, and therefore, I QUIT!!”

Isn’t this the case? Isn’t that the reason for the nursing shortage? Can’t we blame it on Hollywood?

Sorry, but no, we can’t. And yet, this is just one of those “safe” areas to attack. By putting blame on the movie and television industry, once again, the real reasons for the woes of nursing are avoided. Never mind working conditions, pay (yes, in some places it is quite good but then there are areas of the country and nursing where new grads are making the same money as a supermarket checker), lack of respect, verbal and physical abuse, lack of security and safety on the job, and in general, being treated like a hospital service or piece of equipment. And to say nothing about outdated and out of touch nursing programs, and psychotic, egotistical and incompetent teachers who grace many of the schools of nursing.

But according to some of our experts, that has little or nothing to do with it. Hollywood is responsible for killing the nursing profession, and unless they clean up their act, as opposed to healthcare facilities cleaning up theirs, nursing will vanish as a profession.

An article by Suzanne Gordon, which appeared in the San Jose Mercury News is mind numbing in its simplicity, about how Hollywood is in large part, responsible for the nursing shortage. There is one sentence in the entire article, devoted to poor working conditions, but then is quickly brushed aside by the REAL CAUSE–Hollywood stereotypes of nurses!

The contemporary nursing shortage is influenced not only by poor hospital pay and working conditions. It’s also a result of traditional stereotypes of the profession. Which is where Hollywood comes in.

Is this woman playing with a full deck or what? The problem is not people wanting to go to nursing school. Despite these terrible depictions of nurses on the silver screen, we now have record numbers of people clamoring to get into nursing programs. The problem lies in the fact that people are dropping out of both nursing school and the profession. And sorry Suzanne, but Hollywood does not influence that. Students who have entered nursing, perhaps lured by the flurry of glossy advertising (Hollywoodish, to say the least), are fleeing nursing programs once they get a taste of the reality. And it is poor working conditions that are driving nurses away from hospitals and from the professions completely. Not Hollywood stereotypes.

Suzanne Gordon, who is not a nurse, has become a self-appointed zealot for nurses. And while it is good for nurses to get positive exposure, what I find disturbing about Gordon is her attitude about nurses. In her writings, she seems to blame all of the problems concerning nursing on external forces, and that the cure for all of nursing’s woes has to come from outside the profession. Nurses, according to Gordon, are helpless little victims, at the mercy of the big bad healthcare system. And the nursing profession will only be saved if Prince Charming comes and bails them out.

Gordon never writes about the problems within nursing, ie, lack of leadership, apathy, gender issues, lack of organization and unions, and so on. She never writes about why working conditions remain so poor, considering that nurses are now in the driver’s seat, and should be commanding and demanding, not whimpering and whining, or telling their co-workers to “put up and shut up.” I find Gordon’s writings more harmful than helpful. If she thinks Hollywood has a problem, she should take a look at her own stereotypes–that nurses are as helpless and clueless as kindergarten children, and can do nothing in and of themselves to alter the conditions in healthcare.

In this particular article, Gordon was blasting the show Grey’s Anatomy. I’ve never watched it, and never plan to, so I can’t comment. I will say that of the hospital themed TV shows that I have watched over the past few decades, they have been mostly stupid and inaccurate, in how they portray not only nurses but physicians as well. The same goes for several of the movies.

But has the stupidity of these shows influenced the nursing profession? Maybe a little bit, but not to any great extent. I don’t think that it has been the “cause” of women deciding not to be nurses. There were a multitude of reasons why women began to flee from nursing in the 1960s, and men stayed away from it. Here’s a hint–secretaries made more money than nurses in the 1960s, for jobs that were generally less stressful, had better working hours, and where they got more respect. Those reasons have largely remained the same.

Yet how many of the millions of viewers watching the show understand the link between this — and other Hollywood doctor shows and movies — and one of the worst nursing shortages the country has ever experienced?

Please tell us about this link, Suzanne. I’m curious to know how Grey’s Anatomy is convincing nurses to quit the profession. Or is influencing students currently in nursing programs to switch their major. Please do tell us, Suzanne, how Grey’s Anatomy has any influence on a nurse who’s just been ordered to work mandatory overtime, has 10 patients to care for, and has just been told there’s a freeze on raises. Oh, and that her benefits are being adjusted, and who has just been disciplined for reporting an infraction that endangered a patient.

America’s 2 million nurses rarely, if ever, make it into the picture in a way that does justice to the life-saving role they play in real-life hospitals. To make matters worse, when RN characters do appear, they are routinely portrayed as mere handmaidens of physicians — and often ones lacking in self-confidence, competence or professionalism.

I won’t argue with Gordon that hospital shows are not the epitome of accuracy. However, let’s take a look at another profession–lawyers. How often are lawyers depicted as scummy, sleazy, greedy, dishonest hustlers, who specialize in backroom deals? Compare that to the number of movies and TV shows that show lawyers as brave, honest, compassionate and trustworthy. I would say that lawyers are probably the most maligned profession, as far as the media goes. And yet, there is no shortage of people trying to get into law school.

Let’s see, another profession. Accountants. How often are accountants depicted as mousy, dull, ugly, shabbily dressed little nebishes? Has there ever been an accountant on the silver screen who didn’t wear glasses? Has there ever been an accountant depicted as a good looking macho-ish guy, who is well dressed? Or a stylish woman who doesn’t have the personality of a dead fish?

And yet, there is no shortage of people entering the accounting profession.

Does any of this matter? Do people really believe what they see on TV doctor shows, or at the cineplex? Unfortunately, it does and they do. As a 2002 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation documented, when it comes to health care, a lot of TV viewers tend to confuse fact and fiction.

As long as Hollywood continues to perpetuate these anti-nurse images, it will be hard to recruit enough RNs to care for the growing number of Americans whose lives depends on quality nursing care. Indeed, with role models like those on TV and in film, it’s a miracle anyone wants to become a nurse.

Now I really love when writers through in statistics, and try to adjust them to prove a point. I totally believe that the Kaiser Foundation study found that the public does confuse fiction with reality. Some people think that the movies they’re watching are documentaries. I’m sure that based on what they see in movies, a lot of people think that working nights in a hospital means screwing in the on-call room.

But what Gordon has cleverly omitted is any real connection to the study and nurses. Did the Kaiser Foundation study find that the media has discouraged teenagers from considering nursing as a career? Has the media’s portrayal of nurses been a major factor when planning career goals? Well, I don’t know. If they actually did, I’m sure that Suzanne would have mentioned it.

And her closing paragraph is about as idiotic as it gets. As long as the healthcare industry continues to treat nurses like yesterday’s trash, and as long as nurses remain disorganized and refuse to stand up for themselves and their profession, and demand improvments, it will be difficult to keep RNs on the job. And to keep future RNs in school.

Reading articles like this just makes you want to sit down and cry.

I am so weary of bird flu. Really weary of seeing that constant jabbering in the news, all saying the same thing. The headlines are contrived, flashing sensationalist nonsense that makes you think that the pandemic is already here. When in fact, it may be one bird that has tested positive for the virus.

Here are some fact thus far. The rate of human infection has not risen. The virus has not become more infectious to humans or more virulent. The virus also has not mutated, and there are no cases of human to human transmission. Right now, the biggest danger is the press and the reactions of the public to the POTENTIAL problem that the H5N1 bird flu may cause.

It has the potential to be a health problem, but as it exists now, it is simply not a particularly virulent disease for any human population. Nor it is highly contagious, despite the hype. It also can be treated with conventional medications for fever and respiratory illness. While the mortality rate does appear to be high, ranging from 33-50%, it is important to realize that most deaths resulting from substandard medical care. We also have not been told by any of the scientists or researchers who keep sending sound bytes over the air waves why there is any reason to assume mutations will occur any time soon. I mean, bird flu has been around a long time. Sometimes it mutates and infects humans, and other times it doesn’t. And aside from the 1918 pandemic, all other cases of mutated bird flu did not cause huge human dealth tolls.

Another factor to consider is that even it does cause a pandemic, the virus will likely be less lethal after it mutates to accommodate human-to-human transmission. Considering the number of “crises” that we’ve had in the past few years, it does seem that the public health community just likes to have a new crisis in the news every year or so. And while it may drum up fear for a while, it also has the reverse effect. Too many false alerts numb people, and desensitize them. So if there really is a health emergency, all too many may just consider it another false alarm, or attempt to stir up some sensationalism, or an attempt to sell a drug or vaccine.

The Bush administraton spent $700 million on the smallpox vaccine. They tried to drum up fear of a smallpox bioterror attack. But less than 10% of the designated “first responders” got vaccinated, for a variety of reasons. When the administration and the CDC were unable to convince healthcare workers to get it, all the while not really giving any explanation why smallpox had suddenly become a threat, the vaccine program was quietly shelved. And oddly enough, the danger of smallpox vanished! But Adventis, who made the vaccine, was $700 million richer. And just think of how that $700 million could have been spent in addressing real healthcare problems in the U.S.

Right now Roche is cleaning up on Tamiflu. Everybody is desperate for it, and shareholders at Roche are jumping up and down and rejoicing. So you really do have to wonder–is the health threat real, imagined, or what?

And so it is, the record breaking season. We have reached the end of the list, and for the first time since hurricanes began getting named (1953), we have had to resort to the Greek alphabet. Of course, we only ended with W. There are names that begin with Q and U, which was skipped, and with X, Y, and Z. Several in fact.

But regardless of what they call it, newly born tropical storm Alpha has made 2005 the most active hurricane season since records began 150 years ago, and the 2005 season still has five weeks to run. We have surpassed the former record holder, the 1933 season, which had 21 bonafide storms.

Alpha is now hovering around Puerto Rico, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. I guess that they are not too pleased to learn of Alpha’s existance, especially if Alpha decides to become a hurricane.

Ever wonder about the behind the scenes emails at FEMA? You know, how Mickey Brown defended his incompetence and total dorkhood with the excuse of the ages, “I didn’t know.” Or “it wasn’t my job.”

The LA Times has published some excerpts of emails that were flying around the cyberwaves during the early days of hurricane Katrina’s post-catastrophic mess. It is priceless to behold. And most important, we know that Michael Brown got to eat his dinner while others lacked even a sip of uncontaminated water.

E-mails among FEMA officials, excerpted but otherwise unedited (”the US” in the Aug. 30 e-mail means “the undersecretary,” director Michael D. Brown):

Marty Bahamonde is the regional director for New England

From: Bahamonde

To: Nicol Andrews, FEMA spokeswoman

What is happening with the US (he is referring to Michael Brown) travel this morning. When is he coming to New Orleans. The area around the Superdome is filling up with water, now waist deep. The US can land and do a presser but then have to leave, there will be no ground tour, only flyover.

Aug. 31, 11:20 a.m.

From: Bahamonde

To: FEMA director Michael D. Brown

Sir, I know that you know the situation is past critical. Here some things you might not know.

Hotels are kicking people out, thousands gathering in the streets with no food or water. Hundreds still being rescued from homes.

The dying patients at the DMAT tent being medivac. Estimates are many will die within hours. Evacuation in process. Plans developing for dome evacuation but hotel situation adding to problem. We are out of food and running out of water at the dome, plans in works to address the critical need.

Aug. 31, 2 p.m.

From: Sharon Worthy, Brown’s press secretary

To: Cindy Taylor, FEMA deputy director of public affairs, and others

Also, it is very important that time is allowed for Mr. Brown to eat dinner. Gievn that Baton Rouge is back to normal, restaurants are getting busy. He needs much more that 20 or 30 minutes. We now have traffic to encounter to get to and from a location of his choise, followed by wait service from the restaurant staff, eating, etc.

So now we know the priorities. Michael Brown must eat his dinner and at a liesurely pace, and we have to allow for traffic and other important incidentals. While the people in New Orleans are wallowing in sludge, have no food and water, or a home, Michael Brown’s dinner takes top priority. Do we need any further information about the workings of FEMA? Hey Brownie, you’re doing a heckofa job? Hope you enjoyed your dinner!

Bahamonde’s response to that dribble about poor Mickey’s dinner is priceless.

Aug. 31, 2:44 p.m.

From: Bahamonde

To: Taylor and Michael Widomski, public affairs

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!! No won’t go any further, too easy of a target. Just tell her that I just ate an MRE and crapped in the hallway of the Superdome along with 30,000 other close friends so I understand her concern about busy restaurants. Maybe tonight I will have time to move my pebbles on the parking garage floor so they don’t stab me in the back while I try to sleep.

In an email dated Sept 3, Bahamonde stated that “the leadership from top down in our agency is unprepared and out of touch”…. and that he was “horrified at some of the cluelessness and self concern that persists.”

LA Times

The talking heads are all talking, and trying to come up with ways of sifting through the millions of air travelers and nabbing the would-be suspects. Not terrorists. We’re talking something more important–BIRD FLU!

I would agree that it is a good idea to have contingency plans in place, only these seem so half-assed. It’s one thing to try to contain a disease like small pox, which is extremely obvious. A person breaks out in hideous sores, so voila, you catch your small pox victim and get the machinations of isolation and quarantine going.

But catching bird flu among airline travelers. Okay, here’s the brilliant ideas that they’ve come up with so far:

Quarantines, authorities say, will only be put into place if a plane lands carrying people from a flu-infected country who are coughing and showing other symptoms.

Here is what might happen if bird flu is discovered on a flight:

* Officials will isolate the possibly infected passengers.
* The suspected passengers will be tested at a local hospital.
* Other passengers on the flight will be quarantined at the airport for 24 to 48 hours.
* The passengers will then spend up to 10 days somewhere else until it is determined if they have been exposed to the bird flu.
* Shelters in large cities, such as those that housed Hurricane Katrina victims, could handle at least a thousand quarantined passengers, officials have said.

No official plan has been put into place by the United States government, but some airports say they are working on their own plans.

What exactly is a flu-infected country? Does Romania count, because they’ve detected a turkey with bird flu? How many cases of bird flu do you need to be considered “flu-infected?” And does that mean birds that are infected or people?

Due to the dry air and lack of oxygen on airplanes, I usually end up with a stuffy nose. Sometimes even cough a few times. So if I happen to be sitting on a plane coming in from Croatia, where a case has been discovered, will I be nabbed and thrown in quarantine? If my neighbor sitting next to me happens to sneeze, due to an allergy to airplane food, and the airline officials immediately think “bird flu,” then will I have to sit in the airport for 24-48 hours?

Airplanes are breeding grounds for all kinds of airborne illnesses, I’ll grant you that, but it is unclear if these tactics will be put in place only if the bird flu does mutate to human to human transmission, and begins to affect a lot of people, or if this is something planned for right now. Just in case….

I suppose flight attendants will soon have to report anyone who requests a tissue on a plane. And all coughing will be reported to the authorities, even if caused by a person choking on their bloody Mary.

MyDNA.com

Oops, I said good night too soon. I just checked on my pal Wilma, and she’s now a category 4 hurricane. She’s one powerful little mother f***ker of a storm–and is already whipping up a frenzy.

Twenty-one named storms were predicted, and Wilma is storm 2. The season runs officially to Nov. 30. Any more coming our way?

I was out today from dawn to dusk, literally. No laptop, no computer access to my blog, and now I’m too sleepy to complain about whatever it is that I usually complain about. But I didn’t want to miss a day, so please forgive this mini-post.

Bon soir.

Seems that the world is moving along, and doesn’t really care about what Bush and company think. The passionate defenders of pre-embryos in petri dishes, while at the same time are trying to cut food stamps for children (you know, as in human beings who are already walking the earth).

Anyway, despite Bush’s ban on most stem cell research in the U.S., and his impassioned pleas for the rights of pre-embyos (as to not caring about bombing Iraqi children or those living on American streets), other nations have just ignored him. Singapore and South Korea are poised to become leaders in science, namely, in stem cell research.

A bank that will create and supply new lines of embryonic stem cells for research around the world has been opened in Seoul, South Korea. The project is being led by cloning expert Dr Woo Suk Hwang, who has pioneered the development of stem cells tailored to individual patients.

It will serve as the main centre for an international consortium, including the US and the UK.

Basically, the bank will help scientists from countries like the US get around the government restrictions on stem cell research.

This should be interesting. I wonder if Bush will try to put an “import ban” on cell lines that come from this bank.

It is hoped to create about 100 cells lines per year with genetic defects that cause such diseases as diabetes, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

BBC