"Three out of four nurses say their hospital hasn't provided sufficient education for them on Ebola, according to a survey by the largest professional association of registered nurses in the United States." Why hasn't the CDC done a better job on this? How should they change in the future?

>Why hasn't the CDC done a better job on this? Because we have repeatedly voted for lower taxes and less government intervention over the past several administrations.  America's public health infrastructure is 20% smaller than it was 8 years ago. It's easy enough to buy technology, but it's really hard to find trained people in a hurry, particularly when you laid them all off not very long ago.

The U.S. does not have an Ebola "czar." Maybe we should - but as of today we don't. The CDC is limited in their legal authority (and budget) to "do" anything other than help state or local health officials - when invited. They don't have jurisdiction over local or state health officials. Beyond that - here is what the CDC has done. As a part of the CDC’s Health Alert Network (http://emergency.cdc.gov/han/index.asp), there have been numerous warnings specifically geared to the U.S. healthcare industry. There are four classifications of HAN messages: Informational (lowest) Health Update Health Advisory Health Alert (highest) The CDC issued 7 Ebola Health Alerts (the highest message level) starting in July. CDC http://emergency.cdc.gov/han/han00363.asp ‒ Ebola Virus Disease Confirmed in a Traveler to Nigeria, Two U.S. Healthcare Workers in Liberia CDC http://emergency.cdc.gov/han/han00364.asp ‒ Guidelines for Evaluation of US Patients Suspected of Having Ebola Virus Disease CDC http://emergency.cdc.gov/han/han00365.asp ‒ Ebola Update #1 CDC http://emergency.cdc.gov/han/han00366.asp ‒ Ebola Update #2 CDC http://emergency.cdc.gov/han/han00367.asp ‒ Ebola Repsonse Update #3 CDC http://emergency.cdc.gov/han/han00368.asp ‒ Ebola Response Update #4 CDC http://emergency.cdc.gov/han/han00371.asp ‒ Evaluating Patients for Possible Ebola Virus Disease: Recommendations for Healthcare Personnel and Health Officials CDC’s Alert #364 on August 1 was very specific. “CDC recommends testing for all persons with onset of fever within 21 days of having a high-risk exposure.” The CDC fully activated their Emergency Response Center (EOC) by HAN #365 ‒ on August 13. This center can be staffed with up to 280 people (and more if authorized/approved). The idea has surfaced that the CDC should be in charge of 6-8 regional facilities around the U.S. designed specifically to handle cases like Ebola. That may yet happen - but as of today - there are so few cases in the U.S. that the need is not currently there to support that approach. If and when the need does surface - I'm sure we will grant broader powers (and budget) to the CDC to handle the contact tracing and safety protocols associated with Ebola for the country. Clearly the hospitals are in various stages of readiness to handle incoming Ebola patients. While Dallas was a clear failing, Emory University and Nebraska have proven well up to the task.

There is a general fear that has spread among medical workers and those who clean airplanes and flight attendants. British Airways no longer flies into any of the affected African countries. Air France has limited flights and only staffs it with volunteers. The CDC and training is a red herring. You cannot pay nurses and flight attendants enough to take any risk of contact with Ebola patients. The only people that are going to be left at the front lines of this fight are going to be under orders of the US military, medical personnel from China and Cuba, and religious people.

The only thing they know is quarantine. They do not believe there is a viable treatment, so there is an ethical vacuum as to what should be done. Their priority shifts from treatment to the prevention of infection of others. But since there actually is an effective treatment, that has been used clinically for more than 50 years, and successfully applied to a very large number of viral diseases, from polio to swine flu, their belief has the potential to be hugely dysfunctional. I can see a scenario where people with respiratory symptoms are detained and quarantined by force, and prevented from choosing effective therapy because the wardens are convinced that it is quackery. Now that's a potential travesty waiting to happen. If the CDC were not so ideologically and politically driven, they'd accept the challenge of Thomas E. Levy, MD, JD and allow those infected with ebola the option to choose IV ascorbate, as is statutorily required under informed consent statutes. It would only take 2-3 weeks for the results to be blatant. For more info, check out Levy on YouTube. And look up Fred Klenner's work with polio, before the polio vaccine was available. The swine flu case of Alan Smith is especially applicable because the New Zealand hospital (which follows US public-health policies) repeatedly denied Smith's access to ascorbate. But because Smith was in a coma and the hospital wanted to pull the plug on his respirator, they agreed to the family's demands and administered the C infusion. Smith woke up in hours and his lungs cleared in a day. Then the hospital stopped the IV C because it was no longer ethical to give a "worthless" treatment to somebody who was no longer expected to die. Smith's infection rebounded, his lungs filled up and he went back into a coma. The Smith family had to smuggle vitamin C into the hospital to reverse the relapse, check him out and save his life. Smith is alive today and has resumed ranching. So when the CDC and NIH tell you that there is "no accepted treatment" for ebola and other lipid enveloped viral diseases, they are right. But it is sobering to realize that their lack of acceptance is not based on scientific evidence and is in direct opposition to more than 50 years of clinical experience. Let me state here, for the public record, that I choose three to five IV treatments of ascorbate, administered on successive days, of 60, 100, 150, 120 and 100 grams, as my fully informed decision for treatment of ebola infection, with unrestricted access to dietary supplements containing vitamin C, most particularly in liposomal form. You can also get information about other ways to reduce risks of viral disease from my website http://www.ProjectWellbeing.com/steve.

What K. Tiede said.  How can CDC do better? Fight it there or fight it here. We have no one to blame but Congress.   Congress should get out of the way.  There has been massive resistance to meeting the challenge of emerging infectious diseases at the point of origin with money, medical expertise, training, and personnel.  UN WHO has been pleading for money for such operations for decades.  Also, a general survey doesn't reflect actual abilities or preparedness.  A similar survey would show most nurses are not trained or prepared to care for a high pressure arterial pressure line to the cranium, either.  But that doesn't mean there are no personnel at the hospital who do.  A better survey would have been of infection control, ICU, & ER staff, the people most likely to encounter infectious diseases.  The fact that Ebola has been a medical non-event in the US and the Western world demonstrates that our public health system is up to the task.

Why does these quirys start by assuming that all future problems can be anticipated ahead of time and training put in place. Such training would probably deemed a waste if carried out ahead of the problem appearing. Ebola on the USA, that a tropical disease.

I suspect if you polled the same group about the Black Plaque you would get the same results. The CDC cannot educate very medical professional about every possible virus or plaque on the off chance they may crop up in America at some point. However once there is a threat they need to gear up, it has been barely two weeks since the Duncan case.

all the hospitals should take extra ordinary care in treating ebola patients. it is the hospital management's fault to not give guidelines regarding treating ebola patients. http://ebolatrackermap.com