Some thoughts on PPE as our case numbers go up.
My practice has been to wear N95 with every patient. N95, face shield, gown with every trauma patient. My initial instinct was that we’re in the middle of a pandemic and almost everyone is an unknown.
I now think we need to standardize complete PPE for all patients.
We’ve had multiple patients not suspected to have Covid admitted through the ED, taken to the operating room, cared for in the ICU and then the floor, only to find out they’re COVID positive upon discharge.
There’s no way of knowing whether they came in with it or were infected while in the hospital.
Another trend we’ve seen in the last few weeks is hip fractures and patients “not feeling well for a few days.” We picked up the Covid after our assessment.
Some of these patients had productive cough, were not wearing masks,& N95 was not worn by staff because patient was not Covid or considered PUI at the time. And by this time, they’ve been in the ED, radiology for X-rays and to the CT scanner. How many pple were exposed?
Another practice I’ve seen is the difference in how we clean and sterilize rooms/beds between Covid and non-Covid or PUI patients. Is this something else we should standardize to limit transmission?
I know we’re going to run into resource limitations but these are some of the things we can look at to decrease the overall burden of disease in the hospital and hopefully in the community as these patients go back home.
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.