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US Doctor Shares What it is Like to Work in a Hospital During Coronavirus Pandemic

  • 4 years   ago
Dr. Craig Spencer

In a heartbreaking Twitter thread, a doctor from New York has explained what it is like to work in an emergency room now.

 

 

In a lengthy Twitter thread, an emergency room doctor from New York has described what his day looks like in the hospital amid the novel coronavirus outbreak. Dr Craig Spencer, who survived Ebola, is the director of global health in Emergency Medicine at New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center.

His followers on Twitter enquired about "what it was like in the emergency room right now" and Dr Spencer responded to the queries through the Twitter thread. Dr Spencer’s day begins at 6:30 am as he makes a pot of coffee to last throughout the day since everything else is closed.

"Wake up at 6:30am. Priority is making a big pot of coffee for the whole day, because the place by the hospital is closed. The Starbucks too. It's all closed. On the walk, it feels like Sunday. No one is out. Might be the freezing rain. Or it's early. Regardless, that's good," Dr Spencer said on Twitter.

He walks in for his 8am shift to the hospital and nearly every patient has cough, shortness of breath and fever. While treating multiple patients, he often forgets to drink water as well. Time for lunch is short as well as Dr Spencer eats something from the cafeteria and rushes back to work.

"Walk in for your 8am shift: Immediately struck by how the calm of the early morning city streets is immediately transformed. The bright fluorescent lights of the ER reflect off everyone's protective goggles. There is a cacophony of coughing. You stop. Mask up. Walk in. You take signout from the previous team, but nearly every patient is the same, young & old: Cough, shortness of breath, fever. They are really worried about one patient. Very short of breath, on the maximum amount of oxygen we can give, but still breathing fast," he said.

"You immediately assess this patient. It's clear what this is, and what needs to happen. You have a long and honest discussion with the patient and family over the phone. It's best to put her on life support now, before things get much worse. You're getting set up for that, but you're notified of another really sick patient coming in. You rush over. They're also extremely sick, vomiting. They need to be put on life support as well. You bring them back. Two patients, in rooms right next to each other, both getting a breathing tube. It's not even 10am yet," he added.

"For the rest of your shift, nearly every hour, you get paged: Stat notification: Very sick patient, short of breath, fever. Oxygen 88%. Stat notification: Low blood pressure, short of breath, low oxygen. Stat notification: Low oxygen, can't breath. Fever. All day. Sometime in the afternoon you recognize you haven't drank any water. You're afraid to take off the mask. It's the only thing that protects you. Surely you can last a little longer - in West Africa during Ebola, you spent hours in a hot suit without water. One more patient," he said.

"By late afternoon, you need to eat. Restaurant across the street is closed. Right, everything is closed. But thankfully the hospital cafeteria is open. You grab something, wash your hands (twice), cautiously take off your mask, & eat as fast as you can. Go back. Mask up. Walk in," he said.

"Every case is that of the Covid-19 disease at the hospital, Dr Spencer said, adding, Nearly everyone you see today is the same. We assume everyone is #COVID19. We wear gowns, goggles, and masks at every encounter. All day. It's the only way to be safe. Where did all the heart attacks and appendicitis patients go? Its all COVID. When your shift ends, you sign out to the oncoming team. It's all #COVID19. Over the past week, we've all learned the signs - low oxygen, lymphopenia, elevated D-dimer. You share concerns of friends throughout the city without PPE. Hospitals running out of ventilators," he added.

After completing work, Dr Spencer sanitises everything from his phone, badge and wallet, and walks home through empty streets.

"Before you leave, you wipe EVERYTHING down. Your phone. Your badge. Your wallet. Your coffee mug. All of it. Drown it in bleach. Everything in a bag. Take no chances. Sure you got it all??? Wipe is down again. Can't be too careful. You walk out and take off your mask. You feel naked and exposed. It's still raining, but you want to walk home. Feels safer than the subway or bus, plus you need to decompress. The streets are empty. This feels nothing like what is happening inside. Maybe people don't know???," he said.

"You get home. You strip in the hallway (it's ok, your neighbors know what you do). Everything in a bag. Your wife tries to keep your toddler away, but she hasn't seen you in days, so it's really hard. Run to the shower. Rinse it all away. Never happier. Time for family. You reflect on the fact that it's really hard to understand how bad this is - and how bad its going to be - if all you see are empty streets. Hospitals are nearing capacity. We are running out of ventilators. Ambulance sirens don't stop," he said.

"Everyone we see today was infected a week ago, or more. The numbers will undoubtedly skyrocket overnight, as they have every night the past few days. More will come to the ER. More will be stat notifications. More will be put on a ventilator," he added.

In his thread, Dr Spencer has explained that the world was too late in containing the spread of the novel coronavirus but also adds that social distancing is the sole key to battling the outbreak.

"We were too late to stop this virus. Full stop. But we can slow it's spread. The virus can't infect those it never meets. Stay inside. Social distancing is the only thing that will save us now. I don't care as much about the economic impact as I do about our ability to save lives," he said.

"You might hear people saying it can't take you down. It can. I survived Ebola. I fear #COVID19. Do your part. Stay home. Stay safe. And every day I'll come to work for you," Dr Spencer said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr Craig Spencer’s Twitter thread garnered over 25,000 likes and is being frequently shared across Twitter.

Over 4,00,000 novel coronavirus cases have been recorded across the world so far. Tens of thousands of people have died due to the Covid-19 disease so far.

Source: India Today

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