COVID update from the front lines

So, in this health emergency, the hospital is deciding to make it worse by firing valuable staff...

rocky mtns wrote:

You gotta love the "but Fauci lied crowd," who have no issue with Trump's daily lies.

But the Fauci lies were real lies. He knew he was making a completely false statement, but he did it anyway in order to manipulate people's behavior. Furthermore, he's a scientist, not a politician. He's not supposedly to be faking data in order to achieve a political goal. Shameful.

The Trump lies are just things Trump says that people disagree with.

Churn? Were the standards for admission to ICU lowered? Last March you heard stories of people being turned away without a test.

I'm not sure what's worse: the endless disinformation threads from the usual clowns, or this thread. A long-time registered forum member reports from the front lines on what it's like trying to keep people alive during a pandemic, and a crowd of idiots descends to attack him, his work, and his profession. Truly loathsome.

Same experience in my ED. We have 35 beds. 20 of which are mixed ICU/Med holds. Remaining beds are occupied by ED patients that are likely admits and critical EMS arrivals.

We have two converted conference rooms, 8 hall beds, 5 make shift rooms with dividers in a triage hallway.

Further measures are being taken on Monday to free up space. But staffing is always an issue.

The nurses are exhausted and the hospitalists are less pleasant than their normal less pleasant selves.

53% of our admitted patients in the hospital are COVID related. That is an astounding percentage.

To my fellow front liners: stay safe, stay strong, that pinhole light at the end of the tunnel will get bigger.

To the rest of you: please continue to do your part

Happy New Year.

real info wrote:

I'm not sure what's worse: the endless disinformation threads from the usual clowns, or this thread. A long-time registered forum member reports from the front lines on what it's like trying to keep people alive during a pandemic, and a crowd of idiots descends to attack him, his work, and his profession. Truly loathsome.

It's a microcosm of the world we live in. You can state the most truthful, obvious fact you can think of and a bunch of people will pile on trying to prove you wrong. Even 2+2=4 caused an uproar on twitter.

Primo Numero Uno wrote:

I have multiple friends and family in the medical profession in California who are dealing with COVID. It is real and no one is denying it. They have different levels of concerns for the virus but across the board, all of them agree that this narrative of the medical system being overrun is flat out not true. I've evaluated the risk myself and I have looked at the toll of the virus and the damage we are doing by our reaction and I think the reaction has been far worse than any gains provided in fighting the virus. Making that calculation is within my right and reasonable.

I am so sick of people like you labeling anyone who will not adhere to your exact narrative of COVID as deniers of facts and science or whatever other terms you use.

I’m gonna trust the ER doc in this thread over the guy who brings up returning to the gold standard in half the threads he posts on. And the guy who said we were gonna hit herd immunity at 1000 deaths/million.

runnER/DR wrote:

real info wrote:

I'm not sure what's worse: the endless disinformation threads from the usual clowns, or this thread. A long-time registered forum member reports from the front lines on what it's like trying to keep people alive during a pandemic, and a crowd of idiots descends to attack him, his work, and his profession. Truly loathsome.

It's a microcosm of the world we live in. You can state the most truthful, obvious fact you can think of and a bunch of people will pile on trying to prove you wrong. Even 2+2=4 caused an uproar on twitter.

I take it that a lot of the elective surgeries at your hospital have been postponed, especially ones requiring inpatient stays-there have been some postponements at our hospitals up north in Canada and our numbers aren't as bad as yours (yet); People need to realize that COVID not only kills a lot of people/creates long-term morbidity, but it has affected other aspects of care such as increased ER wait times as you explained, and postponed surgeries/colonoscopies etc, delays in imaging/CTs.. since COVID patients have taken up any extra capacity that existed in hospitals; ICUs here in Alberta have "double roomed" patients at times....good luck and stay well.

real info wrote:

Good luck, runnER/DR. Stay safe.

It's a troll, sucker.

In the first phases of the pandemic all elective surgeries were postponed. It definitely helped us manage the summer wave better(AZ had a terrible summer wave).

Problem is that surgery is the largest revenue stream for hospitals in the US. Killing the cash cow pushed hospitals to the brink financially. They've basically decided that canceling elective surgeries again is just impossible financially.

Our system is deeply flawed. There's no reason surgery should bring in so much money. But they do. That's our current system. And hospitals are forced to work within the system. They can't survive without that money.

Bad Wigins wrote:

real info wrote:

Good luck, runnER/DR. Stay safe.

It's a troll, sucker.

Nope. Wish it wasn't true, but it all is. The pandemic is a gigantic problem. It's not an existential threat. But your denial inability to recognize reality is.

runnER/DR wrote:

Bad Wigins wrote:

It's a troll, sucker.

Nope. Wish it wasn't true, but it all is. The pandemic is a gigantic problem. It's not an existential threat. But your denial inability to recognize reality is.

lol that makes no sense.

***Your inability to recognize reality is an existential threat.

Hey all you tards of different colors, ER doc seems quite legit.

[quote]runnER/DR wrote:

All ERs I work at are completely swamped with inpatient ER holds. The massive surge in COVID admits has completely logjammed the system.

Hell. I went to an ER at Boston Medical Center 40 years ago and had to wait for six hours to be seen.

Most frontline healthcare workers are useless.

We need a Bernie Sanders system of health care.

runnER/DR wrote:

real info wrote:

I'm not sure what's worse: the endless disinformation threads from the usual clowns, or this thread. A long-time registered forum member reports from the front lines on what it's like trying to keep people alive during a pandemic, and a crowd of idiots descends to attack him, his work, and his profession. Truly loathsome.

It's a microcosm of the world we live in. You can state the most truthful, obvious fact you can think of and a bunch of people will pile on trying to prove you wrong. Even 2+2=4 caused an uproar on twitter.

You are amplifying your own experience.

Plenty believe you. It's the response you want we disagree with. Your ER is busy. Does that mean the world should stop until numbers go to zero? No! Is this the bubonic plague? No! Most people recover. Do people perish? Yes! People leave this world because of smoking, car accidents, other diseases. It's a fact of life. Accept it.

Stop the hysteria please. Plenty of evidence this is not as bad as they made it out to be. It 100% could be like a bad flu season. You want science? Science allows discussion. Anyone, including researchers, with a contrary Covid opinion is shut down. Cancelled. Is that right?

Bad Wigins wrote:

real info wrote:

Good luck, runnER/DR. Stay safe.

It's a troll, sucker.

He's an activist.

[quote]RGARC2 wrote:

53% of our admitted patients in the hospital are COVID related. That is an astounding percentage.

Complete horsepoop.