Autralian hospitals

[*kazumi*]

I heard on TV the other day that hospitals are gearing up for the pandemic and are not seeing people for selective surgeries etc.  I was in the next room, so I was not sure if I misunderstood, and have not been able to find more about it.  Anybody heard anything?  I suppose to see a surgeon about my knee operation in couple of weeks. 

I will try to call them on Monday, but it is not easy to get through in the best of times.

[chameleon54]

While I have seen two share market melt downs with people panicking in my life, this is the first time I have witnessed a run on the supermarket shelves.

It is the irrational behaviour of a few that is causing a lot more problems than the virus itself. ( including those who say its against peoples " rights " to call on them to work in hospitals in a state of emergency )  If people cant get a grip and start acting with a bit more common sense, the government will have no option but to step in and enforce order. 

If that happens, people will do what they are told, when they are told or face the full, unattractive side of the police and legal system.  And trust me....I,ve already seen it in action. You definately don't want to go there  !!! 

[eol-products]

Thats a great idea unfortunatley I would still have no extra rolls. 

[brerrabbit585]

But is it only the few who are behaving irrationally? A lot of people who haven't been able to get things at the supermarket are unhappy about it but they themselves would have done exactly the same thing if they'd had the chance. I've seen it here in the forums where someone says they've got enough toilet paper for a couple of months at least, then next thing they say they bought another pack 'just in case'. They never gave a thought to those who are about to run out and actually NEED it - they bought more even though they knew they didn't need it.

If people are so callous and selfish now, how are they going to behave when things really get grim (and I'm not talking about the virus). If people brawl over a packet of toilet paper that they don't need (or at least one of them doesn't), what are they going to be like when things really are scarce?

When people start to panic or to act irrationally, it snowballs and there's not much you can do to stop it. Not that I've actually seen anyone official trying to put things into perspective, though I could easily have missed it if they have. Scott Morrison did say yesterday in the special mid-afternoon news broadcast that all the other countries with high death rates are in the northern hemisphere where it's still cold but he could have said more. The only thing for the govt to do would be to bring in rationing like they had in WW2, but that would take time.

I think people have got the whole thing out of proportion. There have been 3,213 deaths in China (that we know of) but their population is 1.386 billion (2017). That means .0002% of the population has died (one person out of every 431,000 people). Hardly a reason to panic! Take sensible precautions, yes, but panic, no.

A high proportion of them were elderly people or those who already had serious health problems. A certain percentage of those people would have died within the next year anyway so all that's happened is that a lot of them died a little bit sooner than they otherwise would have, and they died of the virus instead of a heart attack or something else. And it by no means killed all the elderly, only a very small percentage of them.

[domino-710]

What is being challenged is the number of non working (at present) qualified nurses or medical practioners there are - for such an emergency.

You have stated 10's of thousands.

Are those 10s of thousands fit to be called upon - are they not working currently due to a medical condition???

Not overly interested in the ' force ' or ' rights ' - a national emergency involves us all - simple as that.

Most lined up to sign up during the war.

[icyfroth]

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@domino-710 wrote:

What is being challenged is the number of non working (at present) qualified nurses or medical practioners there are - for such an emergency.

You have stated 10's of thousands.

Are those 10s of thousands fit to be called upon - are they not working currently due to a medical condition???

Not overly interested in the ' force ' or ' rights ' - a national emergency involves us all - simple as that.

Most lined up to sign up during the war.

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So. Tens of thousands? 

Ain't no amount of health care workers going to be available to deal with that!

Either deal with your own health, or ....

As in the olden days...

[crikey*mate]

Remember too folks that most (if not all?) specialists are medical doctors. (They do an MBBS before their specialty.)So if things get really serious, the government or whoever can suspend all elective specialist services and divert them to front line health care.

IMO all of us are going to get the virus to some degree, it's just a matter of when.

[lionrose.7]

I am not that worried but I know if I get the Virus I will be Brown Bread.

Heck if the Virus does not get me the Cancer will

Live for today F tomorrow, LOL I am shocked I have made it this far 🙂

[chameleon54]

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@domino-710 wrote:

What is being challenged is the number of non working (at present) qualified nurses or medical practioners there are - for such an emergency.

You have stated 10's of thousands.

Are those 10s of thousands fit to be called upon - are they not working currently due to a medical condition???

The nursing and midwifery board of Australia website states that at June 30 / 2019 Australia had 418,137 registered nurses including a small number of specialised midwives, but not including probationary nuses.

The Department of health website shows in December 31 / 1018, Australia had 333,970 nurses actively employed in Australian hospitals. The average age of these nurses was 43.9 and the average hours worked per nurse was 33.4 hours.

My point stands........... based on the statistics, we have tens of thousands of registered nurses who are not currently employed by hospitals and based on the statistics we also have tens of thousands of nurses who are only working part time who could be called upon to work longer shifts if required.

The figures for registered doctors share fairly similar ratios.

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[brerrabbit585]

If they got really desperate there are also plenty of nurses who are no longer registered but who could easily assist.

[*kazumi*]

The major problem will be respirators, NOT nurses.  Apparently, Australia has only 2000.  We have been told that it is only the old and frail who die.  Now, i have seen some reports that it is those who who were not put on respirator that do not make it.  In China and everywhere else the priority was given to people with the best chance; that meant the younger people.  In Italy and France, where the numbers of dead are mounting, some of the dead are in their 20s, 30s, 40s.... and had no health problems.