It’s a scary thing to do... but colleagues have identified problems and fixed them…
But it is hard to put into words how big the challenge is for staff, and how hard they are working… nobody should take them for granted.
It’s the people who make an ICU
We have learned relentlessly as we have gone
Nor should anyone underestimate what Critical Care Staff have achieved, because we are inventing solutions to difficult problems daily, but also what we have been through over the past year…
Things can go wrong very fast in ICU, and when they do it can be very frightening… even when you know do what to do…
And whoever you are, these aren’t things you get over in 5 minutes
Had a phone call today to go and receive the Biontech/Pfizer vaccine at a GP Hub which had run out of patients to inoculate
We turned up at 30min notice were screened, ID checked, and vaccinated in 10min
THANK YOU to all those who contributed to this!
1/
It made me reflect on what a vindication COVID has been for science
The scientific method of observation, generating a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis and adapting has worked brilliantly, even if we are all pretty gloomy
2/
This would all have been impossible even a few years ago
The advances in molecular biology and DNA sequencing have been staggering…
And compare this to flu 1918, or the hundreds of years of Plague!
3/
I am a senior doctor in Critical Care in one of the UK’s largest Trusts, so unhappily I have gained expertise in COVID, and humbly I say that there is much more pressure on hospitals, especially their ICUs
I realise my reply may seem facetious, so I will give more details. Initially COVID was presented as a simple disease and a bit of ventilation was all that was required. In fact it isn’t.
COVID is a multisystem disease that causes pneumonia skewed towards the highest severity of illness with terrible lung disease, kidney failure, brain involvement and very abnormal blood clotting. Some patients get poor cardiac function too. Treatment is rapidly evolving.
Reckless with Hydroxychloroquine, there is a better chance Trump will be right that REGN-CoV2 will be of benefit. But we don’t know for sure and RCTs are essential
Not so sure millions of doses will be available that fast though…
And there is some observational evidence in #COVID19 for convalescent plasma, the active ingredient of which is mixed antibody