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NYC: I'm an ER doctor. The coronavirus is already overwhelming us.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/03/19/im-an-er-doctor-coronavirus-is-already-overwhelming-us/
My colleagues and I are trained to handle crisis situations. This is a different kind of test.
By Michelle Romeo
Michelle Romeo is an emergency medicine resident physician in New York.
March 19, 2020 at 7:10 a.m. EDT
I’m on my eighth hour Saturday working in suffocating protective gear — mask, face shield, gown and gloves — when an elderly patient is wheeled into Room 23 of my hospital’s emergency department. He’s confused and gasping for air as his family tells me over the phone that he doesn’t want any “heroic measures” performed: no aggressive resuscitation, no breathing tube. Under normal circumstances, there are a few tricks I might try before I have to put a breathing tube down someone’s airway and connect them to a ventilator, which breathes for them.
But now those less-invasive breathing interventions could wind up spraying contagious viral particles into the air, putting my other patients at risk of contracting this patient’s presumed illness, covid-19. So I place a simple breathing mask over his frail face while I watch his oxygen levels fall below a viable level. At that point, I lock eyes with the supervising ER doctor standing nearby, and he dismally mutters: “This is only the beginning.”
He’s right, and that’s my worry. This patient is the first of many who are about to come to us, suffering.
My colleagues and I are used to reacting in a crisis, working long hours and making life and death decisions — that’s our job. But the coronavirus crisis is a different kind of test: Every shift is different; guidance is coming in from every direction; in some cases, we’re watching people die in front of us; we yearn to be at work, but we’re also trying to keep ourselves alive. We’re doing everything we can, but right now, it doesn’t feel like enough.
We don’t know yet if the patient in Room 23 has covid-19. We’ve seen a spike of patients arriving with similar symptoms: high fever, cough, difficulty breathing — all of the signs we’ve been reading about. We are taking precautions as if each patient is positive for this new and terrifying disease. But right now, we can’t do enough tests, and when we do test, we can’t get the results back fast enough.
</snip>
My colleagues and I are trained to handle crisis situations. This is a different kind of test.
By Michelle Romeo
Michelle Romeo is an emergency medicine resident physician in New York.
March 19, 2020 at 7:10 a.m. EDT
I’m on my eighth hour Saturday working in suffocating protective gear — mask, face shield, gown and gloves — when an elderly patient is wheeled into Room 23 of my hospital’s emergency department. He’s confused and gasping for air as his family tells me over the phone that he doesn’t want any “heroic measures” performed: no aggressive resuscitation, no breathing tube. Under normal circumstances, there are a few tricks I might try before I have to put a breathing tube down someone’s airway and connect them to a ventilator, which breathes for them.
But now those less-invasive breathing interventions could wind up spraying contagious viral particles into the air, putting my other patients at risk of contracting this patient’s presumed illness, covid-19. So I place a simple breathing mask over his frail face while I watch his oxygen levels fall below a viable level. At that point, I lock eyes with the supervising ER doctor standing nearby, and he dismally mutters: “This is only the beginning.”
He’s right, and that’s my worry. This patient is the first of many who are about to come to us, suffering.
My colleagues and I are used to reacting in a crisis, working long hours and making life and death decisions — that’s our job. But the coronavirus crisis is a different kind of test: Every shift is different; guidance is coming in from every direction; in some cases, we’re watching people die in front of us; we yearn to be at work, but we’re also trying to keep ourselves alive. We’re doing everything we can, but right now, it doesn’t feel like enough.
We don’t know yet if the patient in Room 23 has covid-19. We’ve seen a spike of patients arriving with similar symptoms: high fever, cough, difficulty breathing — all of the signs we’ve been reading about. We are taking precautions as if each patient is positive for this new and terrifying disease. But right now, we can’t do enough tests, and when we do test, we can’t get the results back fast enough.
</snip>
6 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
are in the line of fire, and there is not enough supplies or resources for them to save people, and risking their own lives. tRump is killing Americans.
