QUEBEC: Seeks volunteers for sick medicos

A question and your thoughts - do you think there would be a mandatory draft of licensed health professionals to serve in hospitals, clinics, etc. if the pandemic came to pass?  All of us have to be licensed, so personal information is readily available.  I can't imagine that a policy could be implemented, but if it got bad enough.....

Sniffles,

If you are in the U.S. and H5N1 goes to massive H2H, it will constitute a threat to national security. The Feds will step in and do what is necessary to protect the Union.

This could include suspending the Bill of Rights, mandatory quarantine / insolation, conscripting medical professionals to care for essential personnel and taking over private and public facilities.

The National Guard and Regular Troops may be called into the cities to follow orders to protect the country. Laws may be suspended and new laws created over-night. Toes may be stepped upon in the process.

I believe people will volunteer and they will be the first in line for food and vaccination and tamiflu

 that strikes me as volunteering incentive

The reason I asked my question is that many nurses have quit the profession due to poor working conditions (I have known a several in this category) but have kept their licensure up to date.  I think that these nurses and others that are currently not in a direct patient care job at this point (including retired nurses, nurses aids, and other medical staff that are licensed) may be the ones that potentially could be called to work at the hospitals.  Would arrangements be made to take care of their families?  Would they be paid or considered volunteers?  Would they be a part of the military?  I also agree that it would be very hard to enforce such a practice, especially if PPE were not readily available to the current staff. 

Dottie - I agree with you, but I think it may not be as black and white a situation as we might like.  The nurses I know had to make a decision about abandoning their children at daycare or abandoning their patients because they were being forced to work numerous mandatory overtime shifts (usually 17-18 hours at a time).  They were single moms and several left the nursing profession because of this.  If this situation would go h2h, it might get interesting for many of these individuals who would be asked to return.  Also, the single moms that are currently working at the hospital may have a problem because they would not be able to take care of their children.  We would be asking them to abandon their children at home, with neighbors, friends, family for an extended amount of time.  This is not a situation where there would be a couple of busy days then the health care person would come home.  They may not be allowed to return home for a long period of time. 

I think we need to understand that medical staff do not necessarily see themselves in the same sense as the military or national guard.  Medical staff do not take the job with the expectation that they may not see their family for an extended period of time as the military does.  They will not have a plan in place other than (possibly) if their shift runs a couple of hours late due to someone not coming in or becoming ill.  I have had several family members in the military and I understand what the expectations are for their tours of duty.  Also, it is well known that after a military staff person is discharged, they can be recalled to active duty for a specific period of time.  That expectation does not exist with medical personnel. 

My purpose for posting this was to discuss a potential staffing problem for hospitals/clinics/public health facilities that has not really been discussed much.  I am stating that if this virus goes h2h, staffing issues like this are going to be a problem and a factor with state preparedness plans.