Santara Clinic doctor: Even a patient treated with COVID-19 in resuscitation did not believe in the existence of the virus

Onė Bartkienė, an anesthesia and intensive care nurse at Clínicas Santara, said doctors themselves lose their physical and emotional health at work during a pandemic: they pass out from fatigue at work, suffer from migraines and blood pressure. All of this was not before the coronavirus pandemic.

Nor was it during the first wave of the pandemic, when doctors were much more optimistic and there was much less skepticism in society.

O. Bartkienė shared what the working day is like in the resuscitation and intensive care units of the Santara clinics at this time during the remote transmission on the Facebook account of the Santara clinics.

Counting colleagues with anxiety

The workday in the resuscitation and intensive care units of the Santara clinics begins early in the morning, half an hour earlier than before the coronavirus pandemic.

Preparation for work is a bit different, too. Initially, the members of the medical team are counted. According to O. Bartkienė, all the time it is calculated with fear: if something did not fall, it was not isolated or if something got sick.

“Usually the numbers don’t make us happy,” admitted the doctor.

Then check how many and what type of patients are in each post. There are four of those stalls: two with 6 beds, one with seven, and the smallest with four.

Doctors distribute who will work where, how many staff is needed for each position, and rush to prepare.

It takes about 10 minutes to change out of work clothes and put on personal protective equipment. Changing rooms in a room, so of course congestion is inevitable.

“At seven o’clock, maybe even a few minutes before seven, we entered our workplaces, dressed in costumes,” said O. Bartkienė.

Dress feels like a greenhouse

With special personal protective equipment, so-called “space suits”, doctors have to spend at least 4 hours on the job and, depending on the job, the number of patients and staff, often 5 hours. or longer.

Working in this way is not easy.

“Every movement is complicated because the suit creates a ‘greenhouse effect’: we sweat and then cool down, because the moisture accumulated under the suit does not disappear anywhere. The underwear, the uniforms that we wear under our guards, get wet and not dry. Later, when the physical effort is less, we feel cold when we sit down to fill in documents or to quietly throw away the syringes. That difference in temperature is also very exhausting.

There are also respritters that you won’t detach if you want to drink, scratch, sneeze, or wipe your nose. We can’t grab face shields, we can’t grab shields and masks. As you know, certain masks, their fluff really tickles the nose a lot. You can only imagine how we feel sighing and unable to clear our noses, ”smiled the doctor.

Lack of time to comfort patients

When asked what to do with COVID-19 patients and how many procedures they need to perform, O. Bartkienė said that a lot depends on their condition.

The doctor recalled a day when the situation was particularly bad.

“Recently, there was a situation in our department where several colleagues, working on a 7 seat post where 6 patients were lying down at the time, had to perform 6 or even 7 procedures in a few hours and they all needed help, they needed hands. .

That situation led us to despair and we realized that we were no longer happy with the staff. Employees from other pavilions were invited, someone escaped from the dining room table without eating, took a bite to help other members of the team, because these procedures had to be done, they could not be postponed, ”recalled O. Bartkienė.

Speaking of procedures in general, the doctor said that part of the job is routine, routine. It’s about morning appointments, medication leaves, other nursing measures, patient reversals.

There are easier days, but sometimes you have to rush from one patient to another to get things done on time. There was no talk of documentation even in those days.

“It just came to our notice then. In the last few days we have counted the number of hospitals, the equipment, how many ventilators we have or if we have a guaranteed number of beds that have recently finished filling. But we are not talking about human resources and that. It is very disappointing, we no longer have people, we no longer have manpower.

As far as I know, in other resuscitations, our colleagues, doctors, scream, ask volunteers for help. This shows that the situation is really desperate and these days we are trying to fill in the gaps in student volunteers whose skills don’t allow us to do all of our work. This is very complicated.

But we are very grateful that they agree to come. They can help convert the patient, they can bring what we ask for, they can access the patient, hold his hand and talk to him, and that’s a very big job. Depending on the time of day, the procedures performed, and the occupation at the time, we will not have time next time to approach the patient and talk to him, just to humanly comfort him. Not all of our patients are intubated and there are conscious patients. As we try to protect them, we examine them, they see what is going on around them, they see intubated patients, they see how many procedures are being performed and what equipment they have connected, and they understand that the situation of some patients is critical. Of course, they fear about their own health and condition, and about the course of treatment, ”said O. Bartkienė.

“So what, are there believers?”

Unfortunately, not all patients are equally benevolent towards rescuers. There are skeptics who, even in the resuscitation and intensive care unit, deny that the coronavirus exists.

“Once I spoke to a patient, I asked him how he got infected and what was his attitude towards the coronavirus before. I asked him if he believed such a virus existed. That’s what he says with that smile: “So what, are there believers?”

It was the last time I asked a patient if they believed in the COVID-19 virus before arriving at the hospital because I realized that my human emotions could break through, which is completely incompatible with my professionalism. I have to do my job. I cannot single out any patient, I have to take care of them, accept my care as much as I can under my conditions.

I won’t ask any more, but from what I understand, many patients become ill and come to us precisely because of their skeptical attitude. That attitude influences your actions.

Commenters say we have the right to express our opinions. Yes, anyone can express their opinion, but the saddest thing is that that opinion is never only an opinion. It usually goes hand in hand with certain actions or omissions.

Those who speak out, who spread propaganda and mislead a growing part of society, at the same time fail to protect themselves and encourage others not to do so, which directly affects the scope of our work. This is very disappointing, “said O. Bartkienė did not hide.

Lunch got quieter

O. Bartkienė said that due to the heavy workload, understaffing and negative public attitude towards them, doctors face a lot of stress. As a result, health also declines.

“The stresses are often caused by fatigue, an excessive number of patients and an inadequate number of personnel who take care of these patients.

Sometimes it seems that we are on the verge of some kind of emotional and physical exhaustion. It all depends on the day, on the position in which we work, because some may have patients a little lighter.

But the emotions are not the best. The team is tired, the team is angry sometimes. We have to suppress it, but that lack of emotion is doing its thing again.

Sometimes I notice that when we have lunch with colleagues we begin to be more silent. I don’t want to express that anger, I don’t want to complain, “said O. Bartkienė.

The physical health of doctors is also deteriorating.

“Working in our department has never been easy. It really requires a lot of physical preparation, good emotional condition. Our team is certainly not weak emotionally or with more specific health issues.

But what we have noticed recently is that very often certain diseases and symptoms, such as migraines, appear and get worse: headaches, fainting at work, heart rate and circulatory disorders get worse and worse. Very often, a colleague has high blood pressure.

In fact, it is disturbing while we work. It seems that we will have to work in such conditions for a long time. And those physical health problems are really worrisome and regrettable, ”said the doctor.

He recalled how half a year ago, when the first wave of coronavirus subsided, he felt completely different than he does now.

“Half a year ago I was full of energy. The first wave was practically under control, there were only good emotions. I felt like we were doing a great job, working in a special place, performing special functions, and this is how we practically handled the pandemic. There were many recuperators and the press has already written about our recovering patients emerging from critical conditions.

We were full of energy and optimism at a time that we can no longer boast about. First of all, this is due to our tiredness and the misunderstanding of society, which is very exhausting and very frustrating, ”O. Bartkienė did not hide.