Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Ebola: We suffer from unrealistic expectations

Richard Reece, MD
Physician
October 28, 2014
Share
Tweet
Share

Oft expectation fails, and most oft there.
Where most it promises.
– Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well

It may seem a strange thing to say, but I believe the U.S. suffers from unrealistic expectations. We expect government, health, and hospital officials to get things right the first time around. This is unrealistic. People, and believe it or not, including politicians, are never perfectly competent in things they are never experienced before. Disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment are learning curves.

When the story of Ebola is the U.S. is written, it will be about how the CDC, hospitals, and health care professionals made mistakes . It will be about what occurred when the virus first surfaced in a Dallas hospital, how the hospital ER personnel were caught off guard, why the hospital was unprepared to deal with the virus, why it infected two nurses on the wards, why the CDC faltered in not forbidding an infected nurse to take a flight from Dallas to Cleveland, how government officials made false reassurances and misleading statements, and what the impacts were when these miscues rippled across the land.

It will also be about political finger-pointing, about casting blame. It will be about blaming President Obama, Dr. Thomas Frieden and the CDC, airline companies, hospital executives, emergency room personnel, faulty disease prevention protocols. Unfortunately, as a Wall Street Journal editorial says, “Life does not obey protocols. Failure, uncertainty, and error are inevitable in human affairs. And institutions learn from mistakes.”

Whomever we blame, do not blame the nurses. They are on the frontlines, the bear the brunt of exposure to infectious disease, and they do what they have to do, even without proper training and protective personal gear. The nurses are the ones most likely to be exposed to infected blood and body fluids and to direct skin contact.

Also, do not blame hapless government bureaucrats, do not blame the CDC, do not blame the hospitals, do not blame the doctors, do not blame the public health system.

Blame the Ebola virus. The little SOB has a mind of its own.

Our job is to collaborate across government, private, and health care sectors to contain and kill the virus. Our job is to cooperate to find a vaccine to prevent it and a drug to treat it. Our job is to spot Ebola outbreaks more quickly. Our job is to develop a fast finger-prick blood test for Ebola. Our job is to diagnose the disease on the spot and to hydrate and isolate the patient. Our job is to prevent the victim or exposed person from entering or leaving an Ebola victim’s home, to prevent he or she from travelling, and to monitor every person with whom the infected person came in contact for as long as necessary. Our job is to develop computer systems to facilitate this tracking.

And lastly, our job is to work together to prevent his hybrid of Ebola and fear from spreading. We can do it. We have done it or are doing it with measles, polio, smallpox, HIV/AIDS and we can do it with Ebola.

As Dr. Larry Brilliant, previously part of the WHO team that eradicated smallpox, has remarked, “The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is a humanitarian and public health crisis, and we must do more to help the victims while avoiding our own ‘panic fever.’”

Indeed.

Richard Reece is the author of Obama, Doctors, and Health Reform and blogs at Medinnovation and Health Reform.

Prev

Ebola and the psychology of contagious disease

October 27, 2014 Kevin 7
…
Next

A physician undergoes hip surgery: 10 observations from bedside

October 28, 2014 Kevin 3
…

Tagged as: Infectious Disease

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Ebola and the psychology of contagious disease
Next Post >
A physician undergoes hip surgery: 10 observations from bedside

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Richard Reece, MD

  • What matters in an optimal consumer health care market

    Richard Reece, MD
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    Medicaid is Obamacare’s sleeping giant

    Richard Reece, MD
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    What good is Medicaid if no doctor exists to provide it?

    Richard Reece, MD

More in Physician

  • Removing vaccine advisers could jeopardize lives

    J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, MD
  • Why would any physician believe that the practice of medicine will become less abusive for them in the future?

    Curtis G. Graham, MD
  • The hidden war on doctors: Understanding administrative violence

    Maryna Mammoliti, MD
  • How doctors can stop frivolous lawsuits before they start

    Howard Smith, MD
  • How the 10th Apple Effect is stealing your joy in medicine

    Neil Baum, MD
  • When a doctor becomes the narrator of a patient’s final chapter

    Ryan McCarthy, MD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • How medical culture hides burnout in plain sight

      Marco Benítez | Conditions
    • Why flashy AI tools won’t fix health care without real infrastructure

      David Carmouche, MD | Tech
    • How the 10th Apple Effect is stealing your joy in medicine

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • Why Medicaid cuts should alarm every doctor

      Ilan Shapiro, MD | Policy
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
    • How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care

      Shashank Madhu and Christian Tallo | Education
    • How scales of justice saved a doctor-patient relationship

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • What led me from nurse practitioner to medical school

      Sarah White, APRN | Education
    • Why local cardiac CT scans could save your life

      Benjamin Cohen, MD | Conditions
    • Reassessing the impact of CDC’s opioid guidelines on chronic pain care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Key strategies for smooth EHR transitions in health care

      Sandra Johnson | Tech
    • How proposed NIH budget cuts could derail Alzheimer’s research

      Tamer Hage, Tejas Sekhar, and Swapna Vaja | Conditions
    • Removing vaccine advisers could jeopardize lives

      J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, MD | Physician

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 18 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • How medical culture hides burnout in plain sight

      Marco Benítez | Conditions
    • Why flashy AI tools won’t fix health care without real infrastructure

      David Carmouche, MD | Tech
    • How the 10th Apple Effect is stealing your joy in medicine

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • Why Medicaid cuts should alarm every doctor

      Ilan Shapiro, MD | Policy
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
    • How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care

      Shashank Madhu and Christian Tallo | Education
    • How scales of justice saved a doctor-patient relationship

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • What led me from nurse practitioner to medical school

      Sarah White, APRN | Education
    • Why local cardiac CT scans could save your life

      Benjamin Cohen, MD | Conditions
    • Reassessing the impact of CDC’s opioid guidelines on chronic pain care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Key strategies for smooth EHR transitions in health care

      Sandra Johnson | Tech
    • How proposed NIH budget cuts could derail Alzheimer’s research

      Tamer Hage, Tejas Sekhar, and Swapna Vaja | Conditions
    • Removing vaccine advisers could jeopardize lives

      J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, MD | Physician

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Ebola: We suffer from unrealistic expectations
18 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...