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At the Oslo University Hospital (OUS), four patients are now receiving the most severe treatment for COVID-19.
In recent days, three patients have died.
– There are four patients here. Everyone has lung failure, says department head Øystein Fahre in the intensive care / postoperative unit at Oslo University Hospital (OUS).
He stands in the middle of the beds, which are only a few feet away. All four patients are on ventilators and under general anesthesia. It is here, in an intensive cohort in Rikshospitalet, that the hospital provides its most advanced treatment to the most severely affected COVID-19 patients.
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One of the patients is connected to a machine that acts as an external lung and mixes oxygen with the blood, in addition to the respirator. You also have a replacement for your kidneys in the form of a machine that performs 24-hour dialysis. Many of the patients with COVID-19 have multiple organ failure.
– We hope he survives. But the real work begins when you get out of intensive care. Then you must learn even the simplest things again, to train yourself so that you can, for example, get out of bed or eat for your own help. Then your work begins. For now, we do everything for him, says Fahre.
CONTINUE CLOSE: Several nurses are present at all times in the room where the four most affected COVID-19 patients are at Rikshospitalet in Oslo. Photo: Jil Yngland / NTB
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Requires a lot of staff
The patients in this room move between life and death.
Several times a day they should roll over and often lie on their stomach. That job alone requires four to five nurses and a doctor. It is risky, because if any of the tubes connected to the patient come loose, it could go wrong.
– Here you will have nurses and doctors 24 hours a day who are well educated and who are detail oriented and sharp on their work. We should have as many people present in the middle of the night as at a quarter past nine in the morning, Fahre says.
EXTERNAL LUNG: One of the patients is treated with a dialysis machine (on the right), an external lung (on the left), and a ventilator (on the other side of the bed). Photo: Jil Yngland / NTB
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May have to expand
Infection rates have been high in recent weeks. Since it takes time to develop serious illness, hospitalizations are delayed somewhat. Although infection rates are stabilizing, an increase in the number of patients is still expected. However, there are still far fewer than this spring.
– This spring we had 15 in these areas, and at most the Oslo University Hospital had 32 intensive care patients with covid-19 at the same time, says Fahre.
Currently, they only use one cohort for the four most vulnerable patients, but have plans to expand the room in several stages if necessary.
– It won’t be long until now before we have to interrupt another activity to get enough resources for this group of patients. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough intensive care nurses to carry out normal activity in parallel with a growing number of COVID-19 patients, says the department head.
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There are currently 121 hospitalized with covid-19 in Norwegian hospitals and 20 are receiving respiratory treatment. For the vast majority of hospitalized patients, no intensive treatment is necessary.
One of them is Andreas Einebakken, 49, who is admitted to the Oslo University Hospital.
ISOLATE: Andreas Einebakken (49) has been admitted to the NIV position in the isolation center of the Oslo University Hospital Ullevål with Covid-19. Photo: Jil Yngland / NTB
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– It was very nice coming here. It has been great for me. Important, he tells NTB.
He was infected with covid-19 more than two weeks ago and was admitted on Tuesday of this week.
– I cannot recommend this disease to anyone. It is very good, short and sweet. It’s important to avoid it, says Einebakken.
You feel like you’re on the road to recovery now, but it’s been tough.
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– There have been various symptoms. Everything you can think of. Fever, body aches, sore throat, and earache. Coughing and all kinds of nice things. But the worst was a huge headache at the end, which was excruciating, he says.
Neither Paracet nor other pain relievers worked. The 49-year-old now brags about the department’s employees, who, among other things, have provided him with oxygen. The headache is gone.
– It can go very well
The ward in which Einebakken is located has recently been established and treats patients who do not need intensive care, but who have a severe course of the disease.
PROTECTION AGAINST INFECTIONS: The infection control regime is strict in COVID-19 departments. Photo: Jil Yngland / NTB
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Nurse Sigrid Seim had not worked with COVID-19 patients before being transferred here a week ago. He is amazed at how sick many of the prisoners are.
– Attacks the lungs in a very invasive way. Many people need intensive care to recover. For many, this is not a virus you can get rid of, he says.
And advise people to follow infection control rules.
– Because it can go very well, she says.
