Nurses as Scapegoats in Ebola Virus Disease Response (Dissertation - Abstract Sample)

NURSING
NURSES AS SCAPEGOATS IN EBOLA VIRUS DISEASE RESPONSE
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ABSTRACT
There are two illustrations that show instances that nurses have been used as scapegoats and blamed for their poor response to Ebola response. Two registered nurses in the United States of America followed the guidelines provided by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) when they were caring for an Ebola patient. They used respiratory and personal protective equipment as outlined but unfortunately got the deadly disease. CDC’s physician director made a response on the matter by stating that it was the nurses’ failure in the following of the agency’s set out protocol procedures. In the same hospital, just before this transmission, a physician misdiagnosed the infected patient and later sent him home. After three days, the man returned with symptoms of the disease from which he succumbed to and died. The hospital placed the blame on a triage nurse on her failure to indicate that the man had made a visit to Africa to the physician. Nevertheless, after investigations, the hospital confirmed that the nurse had actually entered that history. The main reason for nurses being scapegoats is gender stereotypes. Across Europe and America, approximately 90% of all nurses are women. Women provide a safe target to blame for poor Ebola response. There is the opinion that all the men who get into this profession are less masculine and weak. It makes nurses ...