Thread by @BrianGehlbach

Consequences of surging hospital admissions across the #midwest

1) Busy rural ER docs calling 6,7,8 hospitals to try to find a bed for a sick patient in need of tertiary care. And failing.

2) Repurposing existing beds to accommodate #COVID19 patients. 1/8

3) Rescheduling ever more urgent surgeries--heart surgery, cancer surgery, spine surgery--to some future date...a "less busy" date that is hard to see right now.

4) Staffing these new #COVID units, in some cases with non-ICU practitioners. 2/8

5) Competing for travel nurses to try to meet increased staffing needs. Many hospitals are short-staffed at baseline. Without an ICU team, an ICU bed is just a bed. 3/8

6) Increasing infections in #HealthcareWorkers , increasing their risk to each other and, in areas with PPE shortages, to patients. 4/8

7) Increasing stress and strain on #HealthcareWorkers who spend countless hours developing surge plans, procuring equipment, working extra shifts, training non-ICU staff, and covering for sick colleagues. And worrying about their families. 5/8

8) Increasing case fatality rates for patients with #COVID19, and worse outcomes for patients whose care is deferred or delayed or for whom hospital admission is not possible. 6/8

#HealthcareWorkers are making sacrifices for our patients and for our community. We are COMMITTED, but CONCERNED. We need everyone's help.

The more #COVID19 in the community, the easier it is to become infected and to spread the virus, and the more careful we have to be. 7/8

Please #shrinkyourbubble. Order takeout or delivery instead of dining in. #WearAMask when out. Practice #PhysicalDistancing.

Thank you,

ICU doc & fellow human