A.Kiškis, who works with resuscitation patients with COVID-19: I wrote a request to resign, but I withdrew it, I cannot escape

Dr. A. Kiškis, talking about the work of the hospital in recent months, is open: every day is different now, you can never know what image you will see in the hospital tomorrow. It also hints that it is becoming increasingly difficult for doctors to emotionally cope with the workload, but not everyone dares to talk about it.

The doctor is convinced that there will be no positive changes in the coronavirus situation in the country until spring. The doctor himself lacks stricter quarantine care and public education.

A.Kiškis found time for a brief conversation with 15 minutes.

– Could you, as a doctor, compare the first and second waves of coronavirus by observing the situation in the hospital?

– Like day and night. Both in terms of the number of patients, their treatment, and the staff, the well-being of the doctors. Things are completely incomparable here. In general, everything is much more difficult, except that we can almost imagine what the disease is, what it does, what it “eats” with, and how to treat it. It’s a little easier on this side, but a lot harder in every other way.

– It is clear that younger patients need serious medical help. Unfortunately, this is also reflected in the death statistics. How can you explain that?

– Explain why, I really can’t, but that is – fact. In principle, someone might say that heavier patients do not come to the hospital or do not get to where they should be, but I still think that is not true. If both a thirty and ninety man are in the room, it is probably not the case that some patients do not end up in the hospital.

Looking back over the past few months, those older patients may be a little late.

Although, looking at the past few months, those older patients may be a bit late.

– Is this the biggest concern for you?

– Most worryingly, there will simply be no one left to treat these patients. I have those days off myself, and when I go back to work after every day off, I don’t know what I found there. When I meet colleagues, the first question is always: what has changed? Are we still working in one department or already in three?

– Is it necessary to adapt every day to a new situation?

– Yes. I am convinced that both the institutions and the authorities review at least a few times a day all the options on how to increase the number of beds here or not. It is us, as ordinary workers, going to work without knowing what we will find there.

– What is your emotional state and that of your colleagues now? What did you notice?

– If people talked about it very freely and simply, I think 30 percent of colleagues would say that they have already turned to psychologists for help. Perhaps a similar portion take sedatives that allow them to fall asleep. I know this from my own experience and that of my colleagues.

In theory, I myself have written a request to terminate my employment contract after one week. But I withdrew it because now I just can’t escape the battlefield.

– Has the tension already become unbearable?

– I myself am a resuscitator, this job was really very difficult even before the pandemic. It’s 24 hours of adrenaline and you never know what will happen in a minute. So to speak, all employees are currently unbalanced. If in the past they were tired, now that fatigue is several times greater.

Sometimes it is difficult to focus on what and when to do with a patient because you see a patient who says he feels bad, but when you look at his X-ray image you see that he should already be dead.

– And there are many now who are voluntarily withdrawing from medicine?

– I do not know these statistics, but there are other factors. Maybe someone has health problems, others are very scared, but I think the most important thing in this case is extreme fatigue. It’s natural. In such conditions, otherwise, there could not be much, and there are no opportunities to facilitate that in our daily life and in our work. As someone has already mentioned, we can build beds, but we won’t make more doctors.

– And when was the last time you slept normally?

– I really don’t remember a moment like this …

– What other challenges are the most difficult for you at the moment?

– It is difficult with the patients themselves. Because the disease is new enough, its clinical manifestations very often do not reflect laboratory tests. Sometimes it is difficult to focus on what and when to do with a patient because you see a patient who says he feels bad, but looking at his X-ray image you see that he should already be dead.

If it were the flu, we would know that we have to act as soon as possible, but in this case we have to stop a bit and not act as before, now sometimes we do the opposite.

Three days ago, I met a teacher who says, you know, that crown not so interesting at the moment. He was already flushed with anger and wanted to yell at me.

– There has been a recent increase in incidents of people denying that the coronavirus rushes to supposedly empty hospitals and films them. How do you evaluate these actions?

– I thank you very simply – there are people of all kinds. For a person to understand what is going on, he needs to have a brain. If you didn’t have them, it would probably be very difficult to change your mind at this point. The ones that slide out of windows, I might say ugly, are outrageous.

There is great anger when you see something like this and you are there, outside the window, you see a cardinally different image than the one presented.

Three days ago, I met a teacher who says, you know, that crown not so interesting at the moment. He was already flushed with anger and wanted to yell at me. So what am I doing, why am I going to that job?

– So how do you think skepticism should be fought?

– It seems to me that a more strict approach is lacking. Restrictions, masks have been introduced, but how is this observed? I think it is very little maintained. I also think that more advertising should be allowed in the public space. Why do we put terrible pictures on cigarette packs? To make people at least a little scared and reflect. So maybe in this case you should do it?

– When, in your opinion, should the coronavirus situation improve somewhat?

– I think the situation will depend to a great extent on the severity of the restrictions. Everyone now raises their hands hoping for what will be and what will change. The restrictions that are introduced during this quarantine are, in my opinion, good, just maybe they were introduced a little too late. But I hope they have a positive impact. But if you are very frank, I am prepared for the worst. Personally, I don’t see any good signs until spring, but maybe I’m pessimistic.