COVID update from the front lines

It’s not like the medical profession had almost a year’s warning. This just sprung out of nowhere!

Yusef Scummm wrote:

It’s not like the medical profession had almost a year’s warning. This just sprung out of nowhere!

Unfortunately, the training time for a new nurse is a lot longer than a year. Even longer for doctors.

I think demand for some traveling nurses far exceeds capacity... I had a friend say their sister was making $125/hr on a recent contract in TX, but it looks like others might be getting even more.

Right the "medical profession" . LOL. Were doctors and nurses supposed to be bricklayers as well? Making new hospitals in their spare time?

Also, how many "medical professionals" forced these patients to do things they were explicitly advised not to do?

Society has no body to blame but itself. Public health is not complex. People were told if you do X, Y, or Zyou will likely get Covid-19.

People: "Yeah, yeah, sure".

Good luck, runnER/DR. Stay safe.

Yusef Scummm wrote:

It’s not like the medical profession had almost a year’s warning. This just sprung out of nowhere!

Yeah, they should have just hired some unemployed coal miners from Pennsylvania.

Has anyone died as a result of inability to provide care? Or are we still at the "almost overwhelmed stage"?

And, as another poster noted, why didn't the hospitals you work at plan better for this? The country went into week of strict lockdowns in March and April specifically to "flatten the curve" and allow time for preparation for the growing infection. You didn't see it coming? You figured you had it covered? Nine months wasn't enough time? Or is it the federal government's (Trump) fault? All of the above?

Quasi-Boom wrote:

Has anyone died as a result of inability to provide care?

How would someone die from inability to provide care? It is the person being cared for that is at risk of dying, not the person providing the care.

That's terrible!

Can you tell us what hospital this is?

I'd like to notify the local news there so they can get a crew down there for on the spot coverage.

Quasi-Boom wrote:

Has anyone died as a result of inability to provide care? Or are we still at the "almost overwhelmed stage"?

And, as another poster noted, why didn't the hospitals you work at plan better for this? The country went into week of strict lockdowns in March and April specifically to "flatten the curve" and allow time for preparation for the growing infection. You didn't see it coming? You figured you had it covered? Nine months wasn't enough time? Or is it the federal government's (Trump) fault? All of the above?

Most definitely. Many emergent medical conditions are time sensitive. If everything is taking longer, people are dying or having worse outcomes that otherwise would not have. I won't provide specifics that I have personally witnessed, but yes.

Require every hospital employee to uninstall TikTok and you may find that you're overstaffed

how would that work? wrote:

Quasi-Boom wrote:

Has anyone died as a result of inability to provide care?

How would someone die from inability to provide care? It is the person being cared for that is at risk of dying, not the person providing the care.

Oooh, hard-core grammar rebuke on a message board. Here, let me try again, on a question that no one will answer. Ready? Here goes, corrected version (additions in bold):

"Has anyone died as a result of your inability to provide care?"

Does that work? The judges will take that won't they?

Quasi-Boom wrote:

how would that work? wrote:

How would someone die from inability to provide care? It is the person being cared for that is at risk of dying, not the person providing the care.

Oooh, hard-core grammar rebuke on a message board. Here, let me try again, on a question that no one will answer. Ready? Here goes, corrected version (additions in bold):

"Has anyone died as a result of your inability to provide care?"

Does that work? The judges will take that won't they?

Thanks for rephrasing. No. No one has died from my inability to provide care, as providing heath care is not part of my job.

runnER/DR wrote:

Quasi-Boom wrote:

Has anyone died as a result of inability to provide care? Or are we still at the "almost overwhelmed stage"?

And, as another poster noted, why didn't the hospitals you work at plan better for this? The country went into week of strict lockdowns in March and April specifically to "flatten the curve" and allow time for preparation for the growing infection. You didn't see it coming? You figured you had it covered? Nine months wasn't enough time? Or is it the federal government's (Trump) fault? All of the above?

Most definitely. Many emergent medical conditions are time sensitive. If everything is taking longer, people are dying or having worse outcomes that otherwise would not have. I won't provide specifics that I have personally witnessed, but yes.

I'm also interested in the lack of preparations question given the time available. Whose fault would you say it is?

runnER/DR wrote:

Quasi-Boom wrote:

Has anyone died as a result of inability to provide care? Or are we still at the "almost overwhelmed stage"?

And, as another poster noted, why didn't the hospitals you work at plan better for this? The country went into week of strict lockdowns in March and April specifically to "flatten the curve" and allow time for preparation for the growing infection. You didn't see it coming? You figured you had it covered? Nine months wasn't enough time? Or is it the federal government's (Trump) fault? All of the above?

Most definitely. Many emergent medical conditions are time sensitive. If everything is taking longer, people are dying or having worse outcomes that otherwise would not have. I won't provide specifics that I have personally witnessed, but yes.

That is incredible. It is equally incredible that the media is not reporting this. Maybe they can't blame the people they would like to blame, so are keeping it under wraps for now.

Do the families of the people that died get told the person died because of your hospital's inability to provide them adequate care? I suppose you can't be truthful on that for liability reasons.

Under 50 people. 3 hour wait times. Sounds like normal flu season load. How many people live in your metropolis?

What state is this?

Everyone freaked out by Covid so if they have a cold, they go to ER. PCR test is so senstive, they test positive.

I see only 23 in hospital for Covid at largest hospital in major city. Strait from their websight.

Ahead of the Curve wrote:

Yusef Scummm wrote:

It’s not like the medical profession had almost a year’s warning. This just sprung out of nowhere!

Unfortunately, the training time for a new nurse is a lot longer than a year. Even longer for doctors.

I think demand for some traveling nurses far exceeds capacity... I had a friend say their sister was making $125/hr on a recent contract in TX, but it looks like others might be getting even more.

https://khn.org/news/highly-paid-traveling-nurses-fill-staffing-shortages-during-covid-pandemic/

I’m sure there are plenty of trained medical professionals around. That’s not the issue.

Each year around this time, all retail stores hire additional staff to accommodate holiday traffic.

Since we knew the second wave was coming since the first wave hit NINE months ago, would it be so far fetched for cities to make plans for a second wave?

Target gets it, but city board members can’t figure it out, then cry when their hospitals are overwhelmed.

No wonder this country is circling the bowl faster each day...../

how would that work? wrote:

Quasi-Boom wrote:

Oooh, hard-core grammar rebuke on a message board. Here, let me try again, on a question that no one will answer. Ready? Here goes, corrected version (additions in bold):

"Has anyone died as a result of your inability to provide care?"

Does that work? The judges will take that won't they?

Thanks for rephrasing. No. No one has died from my inability to provide care, as providing heath care is not part of my job.

You seem confused as to how message boards work. The question, whether in corrected form or not, was directed at the original poster ("OP"). It wasn't directed at you. Correcting the question didn't somehow direct toward you either.

You may be more than just confused about message board operations; you may have some ego issues where you believe everyone is concerned with what your ideas are. Do you find yourself doing that at work? When two people are talking, you walk up and start answering questions no one asked you? That could be a sign of something that needs to be looked into. Some kind of therapy, maybe. I don't know. Providing mental health care is not part of my job.

Quasi-Boom wrote:

Has anyone died as a result of inability to provide care? Or are we still at the "almost overwhelmed stage"?

You didn't see it coming? You figured you had it covered? Nine months wasn't enough time? Or is it the federal government's (Trump) fault? All of the above?

We absolutely saw it coming. Hospitals have gone to extraordinary lengths to prepare. All hospitals I am staffed at purchased large military type tents to accommodate the surge. They are all using tents to full capacity.

We have done everything we can to increase nursing staff, but you can't just make an army of nurses appear out of thin air in 9 months. At one point we were able to ship in extra travel nurses from parts of the country that had been spared, but now nowhere has been spared. There aren't enough nurses to go around.

This should give you an idea of what we're dealing with. On October 1st there were 30K patients sitting in hospital beds in the US. As of yesterday? 125K hospitalized patients. Every system has limits. Even with all this time to prepare there was only so much we could handle.

Yusef Scummm wrote:

Ahead of the Curve wrote:

Unfortunately, the training time for a new nurse is a lot longer than a year. Even longer for doctors.

I think demand for some traveling nurses far exceeds capacity... I had a friend say their sister was making $125/hr on a recent contract in TX, but it looks like others might be getting even more.

https://khn.org/news/highly-paid-traveling-nurses-fill-staffing-shortages-during-covid-pandemic/

I’m sure there are plenty of trained medical professionals around. That’s not the issue.

Actually, I think in many cases that is the exact issue. To train an ER/ICU nurse takes several years at least. Unfortunately, it isn't like Target where you can just hire a bunch of high school kids or stay at home moms looking to make some Christmas money. Also, go into a Target during the average Christmas season and look at the check-out lines. Even given time to prepare and knowing its coming every year, retail stores still can't get enough people willing to do the work at the wage they are paying.