Ebola is an infectious, often fatal virus. For more complete information, consult your own darkest paranoid nightmares. Nothing like a little satire from The Onion to call attention to how genuine concerns over a pandemic that’s new to the US can morph into hysteria all in the name of trying to provide as much information as possible.
In case you haven’t seen it, here are some highlights:
How do you contract Ebola?
Ebola is contracted through contact with a health care system that vastly overestimates its preparedness for a global pandemic.What are the symptoms of Ebola?
Severe flu-like symptoms that a CNN cameraman is filming.Is there a risk of Ebola spreading further?
If Dallas authorities fail to properly contain the disease, it may spread as far as Plano and Fort Worth.How are Ebola outbreaks contained?
Great question!What are airports doing to screen passengers?
Questionnaire based on fundamental assumption that those in desperate need of medical attention would not lie to get out of Western Africa and into the U.S.
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
At the Abarca Forward conference earlier this year, George Van Antwerp, managing director at Deloitte, discussed how social determinants of health and a personalized member experience can improve medication adherence and health outcomes.
No matter how well prepared U.S. hospitals should be for a pandemic, it’s the first time the U.S. and European countries are contending with the Ebola virus. Although there are several hospitals in this country with biocontainment units, which were alerted in advance of the Ebola patients coming to them, it was inevitable that someone like Thomas Eric Duncan would eventually show up at a hospital in need of treatment. As the case of the Dallas hospital illustrated, it missed an opportunity to treat Duncan earlier. It highlights the importance of effective communication between care teams and the patient and the CDC has issued clearer instructions to healthcare workers to improve vigilance.
We also have a bad habit of overdosing on information without taking the time to process it and putting it in context. The CDC published an infographic that The Washington Post highlighted illustrating “the ominous math” behind Ebola. Tom Frieden, the head of the Centers for Disease Control, also compared the size and scope of the Ebola pandemic to AIDS when he addressed the World Bank this week and said, “We have to work now so this is not the world’s next AIDS.” A Forbes article points out that influenza and Enterovirus D68 pose much bigger threats to us than the exotic and fascinating Ebola crisis.
The push to shut the borders isn’t practical either. For example, are we really going to keep out citizens with dual nationality and medical staff that are traveling there to do what they can to help contain the virus? Here’s an editorial from Frieden on that topic. It does makes sense to require people traveling from areas impacted by the virus to keep in touch with the proper healthcare officials so they can be easier to contact if they do get Ebola, along with the people with whom they have come into contact.
