Well, here we go!
While my hospital has not seen any coronavirus cases yet, it's only a matter of time. I personally am not worried per se. I am cautiously realistic though, and recognize that while the current advertised mortality rate is around 2%, it's only lower in reality due to under-diagnosis. For treatment purposes this is definitely worse than the flu. We expect to see a rising influx of seriously to critically ill people in the coming weeks to months.
Our hospital has introduced updated screening criteria, including travel screening and as of this weekend, symptom based screening. I get annoyed having to read a bazillion emails daily from administration, but it is useful to know if one is working triage.
I am confident that our hospital can handle a patient coming in with coronavirus. I bet we can even handle a couple at a time. Where I start to lose faith, though, is if this really does balloon into a serious pandemic. I'm doubtful that our hospital can handle more than a few patients simultaneously. Each patient has to be isolated in a negative pressure room, and if samples are being drawn for the CDC then appropriately high level PPE gear donning and doffing procedures are followed. Each nurse donning/doffing gear has to have a coach to walk them through it. What if we have multiple patients, each needing this gear coaching? Our hospital is a trauma, heart, and stroke center. Will we be able to function as such, if staffing is spread so thin on the coronavirus patients? What will we do when receiving multiple critically ill trauma or stroke patients, but have no extra resources due to all the staff being sucked into the coronavirus cases?
It will also be interesting to see if all the usual minor ER bullshit patients stay home if this does blow up. I remember hearing from friends that when Ebola hit the Dallas-Fort Worth area, those hospitals were like ghost towns. Will the ankle sprains and chronic belly pain and dental aches stay home if there's a known coronavirus case around? I dunno, but I sort of feel like that will be the only way to handle the distribution of staff. Ain't gonna be a staffing problem if there's no patients!
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One day I woke up and realized I'm not a baby nurse anymore. I'm not even a young nurse. I'm a real adult who has now been doing this for years, and I'm definitely expected to know what I'm doing at all times. And that's fucking terrifying.
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HIPAA. Trust and believe, these stories are halfway made-up and halfway made up of lots of other stories. I will protect patient privacy like it's my job. Because it is.
Many of the photos showing mundane things are ones I took. As for memes and other google picture search images, I've been horribly bad at photo crediting - I will be attempting to go back through and properly credit things or remove them if I can't. But rest assured, ain't no real patient pictures up here, folks.
While I appreciate those reading the blog, I don't advertise for any website. I can only be responsible for my own opinion, and thus politely decline any offer to "host a post" or otherwise advertise something not written by me...But thanks anyway!
Many of the photos showing mundane things are ones I took. As for memes and other google picture search images, I've been horribly bad at photo crediting - I will be attempting to go back through and properly credit things or remove them if I can't. But rest assured, ain't no real patient pictures up here, folks.
While I appreciate those reading the blog, I don't advertise for any website. I can only be responsible for my own opinion, and thus politely decline any offer to "host a post" or otherwise advertise something not written by me...But thanks anyway!
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6 comments:
I never even thought to give the waiting room mob credit to be smart enough to stay home if we had coronavirus in the hospital. Hmm, let's see how this pans out!
I just dumped all my Kung Flu posts from other blog up from Jan/Feb.
I ran some numbers. So far, I'm calling this like it's playing out in most respects, and a week to a month ahead of the official clowns running the crapshow, at all levels.
I'll catch up my March posts tomorrow.
My hospital has BTDT with regard to Kung Flu patients.
Already.
It wasn't pretty.
(Hint: Nobody's will be, at first.)
Tune in tomorrow.
I simply love your use of that "donning" and "doffing" terminology because it reminds me of old school nurses fussing with putting on their caps at the beginning of a shift. The doffing ritual at the end of a shift always involved gingerly positioning the cap in those neat little cap carriers. My colleagues were always asking me if their caps were on straight and positioned properly (as I would know!)
Best of luck, skill, and smarts to us all.
I think of you often during this Corona virus pandemic and hope you are doing well. It seems like a supreme sacrifice for a person to care for another knowing they are so vulnerable to the very same viral infection.
When we studied micro about all we did was gram stain and learn about bacterial infection. Viral infection wasn't even on the radar. It's incredible how everything evolves.
Wishing you all the very best in these difficult times.
Thank you so much for thinking of me. It's genuinely appreciated.
I've been walking a fine line between"it'll be okay" and "this is going to get way worse," and my hospital is currently not overrun but still waiting for the inevitable shoe to drop.
But thank you. For real.
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