Last night, for the 1st time in a long while, a patient of mine nearly died right in front of me. I knew that was likely to happen. But I wasn’t mentally prepared for it to happen w/in a few hours of my 1st shift, & especially not to the “healthiest” patient I was caring for.
1/
1/
So, this is the #Covid_19 everyone’s been talking about.
Here's my response:
Hello, COVID. Nice to meet you. Now kindly f*** off.
2/
Here's my response:
Hello, COVID. Nice to meet you. Now kindly f*** off.
2/
The rest of the night was in many ways like most other nights I’ve spent in the ICU—get an ABG, follow up on a lab, check in with patients and nurses, make no urine (no ins, no outs!).
But it was also unlike any other night I’ve spent in the ICU in a few ways.
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But it was also unlike any other night I’ve spent in the ICU in a few ways.
3/
1. I wasn’t sure the blood sample I had gotten for an ABG was arterial. I wanted to give it a second try and was told we had only one ABG syringe per patient.
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4/
2. Usually around 4 am, the xray machine comes around to take daily chest xrays. When the ICU beds have expanded from 50 to 200, there are not enough xray machines, and daily xrays fall by the wayside.
5/
5/
3. I’m not sure how many of the people working in my unit were employees of the hospital, but my sense was very few. That resulted in an interesting camaraderie among misplaced individuals as well as some gaps in knowledge of policies/procedures specific to this hospital.
6/
6/
I am honored to be here & proud to have been able to make some contributions, like helping a GI fellow (yes, a GI fellow) put in a chest tube for a patient with a tension pneumothorax. (this COVID guy really freaking sucks, but I guess all my surgical training was worth it!)
7/
7/
Whatever COVID has in store for our team tonight, we’re ready. I’m not trying to be glib. I know we can’t save everyone—that’s clear from the data. But we are sure as hell going to fight for these patients with every bit of knowledge and skill we have.
8/8
8/8
