Bias Response: Mass. Nurses Worry About Ebola Preparedness

     In the article, Mass. Nurses worry about Ebola preparedness, by Felice J. Freyer reports on the bias of how Mass. nurses in specific hospitals are in no way ready for an Ebola outbreak such as the one going on in this present day. This articles leans towards normalcy bias. Normalcy bias is the refusal to plan for, or react to a disaster that has never happened before. This is readily used in the article with it containing many examples of this particular type of bias.

     Normalcy Bias is used in this articles on several occasions. Ebola is a virus that is spreading like wildfires around the country and around the world. It is a virus that many medical many professionals aren't ready for because it is not a common type of virus that we see often. These professionals are having trouble starting the preparations for Ebola patients because they have no clue where to begin. Normalcy bias is the refusal to prepare for a disaster, so it is not a direct parallel to the article, but it has some commonalities because they struggle to stat preparing and are not sure how to prepare for such a horrific outbreak that is spreading over the globe. They are also struggling because they " are responding as quickly as they can to shifting circumstances and new knowledge".  This shows normalcy bias because they aren't sure how to plan because they are receiving new knowledge and information everyday. Many nurses " say they are equally concerned about being assigned, without adequate training, to care for an Ebola patient once admitted". This is another example of normalcy bias in the article because it shows the nurses being worried about caring for a patient without proper training to deal with the virus.

   This article is filled with examples of normalcy bias. The article explains how many nurses are worried about contracting the disease because they do not have proper training and cannot plan for the virus spreading. In the article, Mass. Nurses worry about Ebola preparedness, by Felice J. Freyer, Freyer shows how nurses aren't prepared for Ebola while using examples of normalcy bias throughout the article.

Work Cited:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/10/15/ebola/LhkBmkuYeG08RDpixPwC9I/story.html
http://quizlet.com/53722881/journalistic-bias-flash-cards/