A nurses report on her day in a COVID-19 Ward

[WolfMan]

Wake up. Eat breakfast. Put my mask on and walk to work in the brisk, early morning sunlight of New Jersey. My shift starts at 07:00. As I walk into the hospital, like every day, I am stopped for a forehead temperature scan and asked if I have any flu-like symptoms before proceeding to the ICU. I gather my one N95 mask for the day, a single hair net, shoe covers if available, a plastic gown and a pair of hospital issued scrubs. I reuse my face shield everyday. 

I head down two floors to the makeshift ICU. The entrance is blocked off with heavy-duty construction plastic as an attempt to make the OR and PACU ‘negative-pressure’. [COVID can stay airborne for several hours with aerosolization and the negative pressure means particles will flow into the COVID area, not into other surrounding hallways]. This area is filled people, each crammed side-by-side, with just enough room for a ventilator and few IV poles between patients. 

Report is quick and straight to the point. Keep them alive. This place is incredibly noisy. A place of excessive audio and visual stimulation. Constant dinging vents, monitors, IV pumps. Lights flashing on the monitors for low oxygen saturations, low blood pressures, dysrhythmias. Lights flashing on vents for high peak pressures, low minute volumes, low tidal volumes. You have to literally yell to the person next to you because of all of the noise, coupled with the muffling that occurs when wearing a respirator and face shield. It is hot. Stressful. And I am rebreathing my own exhaled CO2 for the next 13hrs in these masks. They’re are so tight that I have bruises behind my ears and wear a bandaid on my nose to protect myself from a pressure ulcer. 

Supplies in this area are sparse. I run around asking people just to find saline flushes. Alcohol pads. Linen. We are running out of syringes. Running out of IV fluids. Running out of places to plug in all of the electronics that are keeping my patients alive. Needing to prioritize which patient is the Most sick to see first. Stabilize as much as possible and move on to the next. There are between 4-6 critically ill patients per nurse. Each patient with a minimum of three titratable drips and fluids means managing a minimum of 12-18 IV pumps, and that is being conservative. We have anesthesiologists and specialized physicians working as attendings. Nurse anesthetists working as attendings. People doing jobs they have never done before this pandemic. We must work as a team to keep the patients viable and each other sane. Or mostly sane at least.

I auscultate my patients lungs. I hear fluid/mucous. They need to be suctioned. We have run out of in-line ETT suction catheters. The only option is sterile suctioning, which would require unhooking the patient from the vent [aka aerosolizing] and putting COVID airborne. But the patients O2 sats are dropping, their heart rate is increasing, they are visibly in distress. Intervene immediately or likely respiratory arrest followed by cardiac arrest. Benefit outweighs the risk. Exposed. 

I do not beat myself up for not being able to give personal care to any of my patients because keeping them alive is more important. I run my ass off all day and literally have no time to even go to the bathroom myself. I happen to have a few helpers with me this particular day which means my patients can get some much overdue cleaning up. They are with the patient right behind me, giving him a quick turn, wash down, and clean sheets. I hear the alarms start ringing. O2 sats in the 80s. I give him 100% oxygen and suction down is ETT and in his mouth. They turn him to his left. Flat line. I check the carotid. Nothing. I lower the side rails and get onto the bed, hands on his chest, while simultaneously yelling if anyone else feels a pulse?! No pulse. I immediately start CPR. “I NEED HELP!” GET THE AED!” I feel his ribs cracking under my palms with each compression. Getting adequate CO2 capnography, meaning compressions are good, at this point. His chest recoil is shit. Doctors are at the bedside. Quickly discussing how long to attempt resuscitation. Epi is given. No pulse. No rhythm. No shock. CPR. Bicarb given. He starts profusely bleeding, spraying bright red blood from his mouth, around the ETT tube, and nose. Code lasts under seven minutes. My first death. This is only 09:20.

This man, who had no past medical history, had become so sick he was requiring daily dialysis. I have said in the past, getting a breathing tube is a death sentence. More accurately, I would say if a patient gets to the point of needing a dialysis catheter, it is just prolonging ‘life’. That being said, there has only been one person who wasn’t taken to the body trailers after their breathing tube was removed. One. 

As soon as one body goes out to the trailers, a new person is being admitted from the emergency department or someone is transferred from the floor who needs ICU care. I admitted three more patients by the end of the shift, giving me the opportunity to care for six patients. One of my admits coded as soon as she got to me. Two codes and two deaths in six hours. I needed to dust myself off and get back at it. I had four others people who needed my best. No time to grieve. Crying is for my days off. When I am alone. When I can process and decompress. My husband and my big sister are my people. I can vent, cuss, cry, yell, scream, feel all of the emotions and they will be there to hold me up, even if it is virtually from 1,200 miles away. 

19:30 Night shift shows up. Fresh faces as compared to my sweaty, worn out face. I feel as if I have been hit by a train. Again, the report/handoff is quick and talking about only what is essential. Is anyone teetering on life and death? Is anyone actively trying to die? I wish them luck and leave the unit. I doff my PPE that I put on thirteen hours earlier. I wipe down my face shield for use on my next shift. Noticing I have been wearing specks of my patient’s blood all day that I was sprayed with during CPR. I recognize my shoulders and chest ache from performing those chest compressions as my mind replays the whole scenario. The pain I experience when removing my mask is a deep ache radiating on all bony prominences of my face and head. I scrub my hands, my arms, my face with soap and water. I put on a simple mask to return to the ICU to change and gather my belongings before walking home. 

It is now 20:45. I am walking down the streets, alone. I hear the alarms in my head. They sound like a chorus of emergency vehicles sirens all going off simultaneously. An occasional car will drive by, but it is otherwise silent. It is dark. I again feel the brisk cool wind on my face. I slide my mask down and take a deep, cleansing breath of fresh air. I look up at the stars. My eyes well with tears for those I lost today. As much as I need the rest and sleep, I know I am needed in that place and am anxious to go back. I am honored to be able to be a part of something historic and to help save lives each day.

 

My message to those protesting the stay-at-home orders in Minnesota, Tennessee, Washington, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, California, Arizona, Montana, and any other state & to Trump:

Come take a step into my daily hell. 

Come tell me to my face that “fear is worse than the virus!” 

Come walk into the trailer full of dead, rotting humans, and I will pick out a spot for your body, since it is “your body, your right”. 

If “Jesus is your vaccine”, tell me why I am taking the rosary off my patient’s lifeless body? 

Anyone protesting should forfeit their rights to receive any medical care. NONE. You are putting the lives of anyone you come into contact with because of your boredom and selfishness. You are putting every single healthcare worker’s life not only at an increased risk, but your disrespect for humankind because of your ignorance and stupidity is beyond appalling. You are a disgrace.

 

[M_Sable]

Bravo!

[Choo Choo Charlie]

Meanwhile, millions upon millions of healthy people are suffering economic destruction.

328,000,000 people in this country.

327,000,000 plus are doing just fine.

Nobody is twisting anyone’s arm to go to work. She can stay home just like the rest. 

[YankeeDoodle]

12 hours ago, WolfMan said:

You have to literally yell to the person next to you because of all of the noise, coupled with the muffling that occurs when wearing a respirator and face shield. It is hot. Stressful. And I am rebreathing my own exhaled CO2 for the next 13hrs in these masks.

We must work as a team to keep the patients viable and each other sane. Or mostly sane at least.

 I run my ass off all day and literally have no time to even go to the bathroom myself.

I had four others people who needed my best. No time to grieve. Crying is for my days off. When I am alone. When I can process and decompress.

I feel as if I have been hit by a train.  The pain I experience when removing my mask is a deep ache radiating on all bony prominences of my face and head.

 I am walking down the streets, alone. I hear the alarms in my head.  I slide my mask down and take a deep, cleansing breath of fresh air. My eyes well with tears for those I lost today.

Come take a step into my daily hell.

And on the other end of the spectrum, we're being treated to videos like these every day. And all of them are being forwarded all over and celebrated on the Internet.

So what really represents what is happening?

 

 

 

 

[PeteMoss]

1 hour ago, Choo Choo Charlie said:

Nobody is twisting anyone’s arm to go to work. She can stay home just like the rest. 

People in the Health Care profession have a moral obligation to go to work.

 

[DanCooper]

During the Spanish Flu pandemic, a far worse sickness, the US only quarantined the sick. We survived and would prosper in the Roaring Twenties Now we listen to the advice of Bill Gates who claims he wants to save every life - but a short time ago he was lecturing about the need for global depopulation. Curious, no? Now we are “global citizens” applauding (bravo!) our downfall.

[ginger]

15 hours ago, WolfMan said:

 I happen to have a few helpers with me this particular day which means my patients can get some much overdue cleaning up. They are with the patient right behind me, giving him a quick turn, wash down, and clean sheets. I hear the alarms start ringing. O2 sats in the 80s. I give him 100% oxygen and suction down is ETT and in his mouth. They turn him to his left. Flat line. 

 

 

[19April1775]

19 hours ago, WolfMan said:

Wake up. Eat breakfast. Put my mask on and walk to work in the brisk, early morning sunlight of New Jersey. My shift starts at 07:00. As I walk into the hospital, like every day, I am stopped for a forehead temperature scan and asked if I have any flu-like symptoms before proceeding to the ICU. I gather my one N95 mask for the day, a single hair net, shoe covers if available, a plastic gown and a pair of hospital issued scrubs. I reuse my face shield everyday. 

I head down two floors to the makeshift ICU. The entrance is blocked off with heavy-duty construction plastic as an attempt to make the OR and PACU ‘negative-pressure’. [COVID can stay airborne for several hours with aerosolization and the negative pressure means particles will flow into the COVID area, not into other surrounding hallways]. This area is filled people, each crammed side-by-side, with just enough room for a ventilator and few IV poles between patients. 

Report is quick and straight to the point. Keep them alive. This place is incredibly noisy. A place of excessive audio and visual stimulation. Constant dinging vents, monitors, IV pumps. Lights flashing on the monitors for low oxygen saturations, low blood pressures, dysrhythmias. Lights flashing on vents for high peak pressures, low minute volumes, low tidal volumes. You have to literally yell to the person next to you because of all of the noise, coupled with the muffling that occurs when wearing a respirator and face shield. It is hot. Stressful. And I am rebreathing my own exhaled CO2 for the next 13hrs in these masks. They’re are so tight that I have bruises behind my ears and wear a bandaid on my nose to protect myself from a pressure ulcer. 

Supplies in this area are sparse. I run around asking people just to find saline flushes. Alcohol pads. Linen. We are running out of syringes. Running out of IV fluids. Running out of places to plug in all of the electronics that are keeping my patients alive. Needing to prioritize which patient is the Most sick to see first. Stabilize as much as possible and move on to the next. There are between 4-6 critically ill patients per nurse. Each patient with a minimum of three titratable drips and fluids means managing a minimum of 12-18 IV pumps, and that is being conservative. We have anesthesiologists and specialized physicians working as attendings. Nurse anesthetists working as attendings. People doing jobs they have never done before this pandemic. We must work as a team to keep the patients viable and each other sane. Or mostly sane at least.

I auscultate my patients lungs. I hear fluid/mucous. They need to be suctioned. We have run out of in-line ETT suction catheters. The only option is sterile suctioning, which would require unhooking the patient from the vent [aka aerosolizing] and putting COVID airborne. But the patients O2 sats are dropping, their heart rate is increasing, they are visibly in distress. Intervene immediately or likely respiratory arrest followed by cardiac arrest. Benefit outweighs the risk. Exposed. 

I do not beat myself up for not being able to give personal care to any of my patients because keeping them alive is more important. I run my ass off all day and literally have no time to even go to the bathroom myself. I happen to have a few helpers with me this particular day which means my patients can get some much overdue cleaning up. They are with the patient right behind me, giving him a quick turn, wash down, and clean sheets. I hear the alarms start ringing. O2 sats in the 80s. I give him 100% oxygen and suction down is ETT and in his mouth. They turn him to his left. Flat line. I check the carotid. Nothing. I lower the side rails and get onto the bed, hands on his chest, while simultaneously yelling if anyone else feels a pulse?! No pulse. I immediately start CPR. “I NEED HELP!” GET THE AED!” I feel his ribs cracking under my palms with each compression. Getting adequate CO2 capnography, meaning compressions are good, at this point. His chest recoil is shit. Doctors are at the bedside. Quickly discussing how long to attempt resuscitation. Epi is given. No pulse. No rhythm. No shock. CPR. Bicarb given. He starts profusely bleeding, spraying bright red blood from his mouth, around the ETT tube, and nose. Code lasts under seven minutes. My first death. This is only 09:20.

This man, who had no past medical history, had become so sick he was requiring daily dialysis. I have said in the past, getting a breathing tube is a death sentence. More accurately, I would say if a patient gets to the point of needing a dialysis catheter, it is just prolonging ‘life’. That being said, there has only been one person who wasn’t taken to the body trailers after their breathing tube was removed. One. 

As soon as one body goes out to the trailers, a new person is being admitted from the emergency department or someone is transferred from the floor who needs ICU care. I admitted three more patients by the end of the shift, giving me the opportunity to care for six patients. One of my admits coded as soon as she got to me. Two codes and two deaths in six hours. I needed to dust myself off and get back at it. I had four others people who needed my best. No time to grieve. Crying is for my days off. When I am alone. When I can process and decompress. My husband and my big sister are my people. I can vent, cuss, cry, yell, scream, feel all of the emotions and they will be there to hold me up, even if it is virtually from 1,200 miles away. 

19:30 Night shift shows up. Fresh faces as compared to my sweaty, worn out face. I feel as if I have been hit by a train. Again, the report/handoff is quick and talking about only what is essential. Is anyone teetering on life and death? Is anyone actively trying to die? I wish them luck and leave the unit. I doff my PPE that I put on thirteen hours earlier. I wipe down my face shield for use on my next shift. Noticing I have been wearing specks of my patient’s blood all day that I was sprayed with during CPR. I recognize my shoulders and chest ache from performing those chest compressions as my mind replays the whole scenario. The pain I experience when removing my mask is a deep ache radiating on all bony prominences of my face and head. I scrub my hands, my arms, my face with soap and water. I put on a simple mask to return to the ICU to change and gather my belongings before walking home. 

It is now 20:45. I am walking down the streets, alone. I hear the alarms in my head. They sound like a chorus of emergency vehicles sirens all going off simultaneously. An occasional car will drive by, but it is otherwise silent. It is dark. I again feel the brisk cool wind on my face. I slide my mask down and take a deep, cleansing breath of fresh air. I look up at the stars. My eyes well with tears for those I lost today. As much as I need the rest and sleep, I know I am needed in that place and am anxious to go back. I am honored to be able to be a part of something historic and to help save lives each day.

 

My message to those protesting the stay-at-home orders in Minnesota, Tennessee, Washington, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, California, Arizona, Montana, and any other state & to Trump:

Come take a step into my daily hell. 

Come tell me to my face that “fear is worse than the virus!” 

Come walk into the trailer full of dead, rotting humans, and I will pick out a spot for your body, since it is “your body, your right”. 

If “Jesus is your vaccine”, tell me why I am taking the rosary off my patient’s lifeless body? 

Anyone protesting should forfeit their rights to receive any medical care. NONE. You are putting the lives of anyone you come into contact with because of your boredom and selfishness. You are putting every single healthcare worker’s life not only at an increased risk, but your disrespect for humankind because of your ignorance and stupidity is beyond appalling. You are a disgrace.

 

Fake, guaranteed.

[YankeeDoodle]

 

[ginger]

FEAR IS WORSE THAN THE VIRUS!

[YankeeDoodle]

Here is another report on what is going on in some NYC hospitals. This is a very important and enlightening video.

PLEASE SET ASIDE THE 11 MINUTES TO WATCH IT!

It confirms a lot of what we've been hearing from the alternate media and people in the health care industry:

1) they are really pushing the DNRs (Do Not Resuscitate) and using that in Covid cases
2) this isn't a lungs-not-working problem but a problem of the lungs and bodies not efficiently absorbing oxygen. Putting them on ventilators and cranking up the volume only blows out their lungs. I saw the video of the doctor she referenced - the one whose video was removed from YouTube.
3) Nurses from around the county going to NYC with the belief that  they are there to assist are being paid but are not being implemented - they are sitting around doing nothing.  Why?

This nurse practitioner's video was immediately removed from Facebook.,  Why?  Especially when Facebook posts and videos openly calling for Trump's assassination remain up, because Facebook determined that those videos are harmless and do not violate their Community Standards.

More info on this, plus the text her friend initially sent her, can be read at:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/04/horror-movie-patients-left-rot-die-nurse-practitioner-posts-alarming-video-abuse-malpractice-elderly-nyc-covid-victims/

Here's her video on YouTube. Again, please watch it to understand why the numbers out of NYC are so high. I've downloaded my own copy and saved it on my computer in case YouTube (ie, Google) tries to pull it.

 

[WolfMan]

1 hour ago, YankeeDoodle said:

Here is another report on what is going on in some NYC hospitals. This is a very important and enlightening video.

Here's her video on YouTube. Again, please watch it to understand why the numbers out of NYC are so high. I've downloaded my own copy and saved it on my computer in case YouTube (ie, Google) tries to pull it.

 

YankeeDoodle. I sent you a PM.

[YankeeDoodle]

Here is another video where a person is reporting her conversations with nurses in NYC.

Yes, I know - this may be considered "hearsay" or "second-hand information", but that is no different that blindly and completely trusting the report listed in the original post of this thread if you do not personally know the nurse who wrote it.  (BTW, I did some searching, and it was written by Kristen F Martins. She wrote it in her blog, after not posting anything there since October 2014, when she wrote about a trip to Italy. Five plus years of silence?  Seems odd.)

This video starts out slow, as she seemed to be fumbling getting her Facebook video to work.  The paddle fan in the ceiling is creating a distracting reflection on the bottom of the screen to.  And yes, she is covered in tats. (To cover all of the dismissive comments before anyone tries to make them.)

Still, once she gets going, listen to what she describes as the condition in NYC hospitals. Why are they killing so many people, and why are so many doctors and nurses going along with this and not saying "NO!  THIS IS WRONG!"?

It appears that they've gotten the economy so screwed up - even before the lock down - and people are so financially strapped, that they are afraid to speak out, lest they get "blackballed" in the whole NYC medical system and will never be allowed to work again. How else to explain how they are going against everything they were trained to do?

 

 

[JB 2]

12 hours ago, ginger said:

FEAR IS WORSE THAN THE VIRUS!

Evidence so far shows me there is more to FEAR from State and Local Governments  than from Virus.

Even more to FEAR from the DC Democrats

 

101

[ginger]

Thank you for posting those videos. Those 2 young ladies did an outstanding service ADVOCATING for their colleagues and probably saved some lives. 

[ginger]

The state of NY allowed resident doctors and undergraduate nurses to handle these cases...fast tracked their credentials and nobody is liable? Senate really needs to have hearings so this doesn't happen again come fall. WHERE ARE THE TRIAL LAWYERS? People are dead. What part of "the most experienced nurses" don't you understand?

[ginger]

https://www.researchgate.net/post/COVID-19_and_respiratory_distress-could_it_be_surfactant_deficiency_May_exogenous_surfactant_help

[ginger]

So...

[YankeeDoodle]

2 hours ago, ginger said:

So by now I expect everyone realizes the nurse in the original post killed her patient. I'm not saying she did it on purpose...it's a matter of inexperience and lack of knowledge.

The state legislature gave a pass to healthcare workers on charting as part of their immunity deal so there is probably no legal record this ever occurred. Thus, this, along with the 2 videos brings to question the number of deaths in the state. 

When there is a rush and an overall PR campaign to brand any individual or a group of people as "heroes" — especially before an event or crisis is even over —  be suspicious.

Very suspicious.

 

These scheduled events like "line up the fire trucks and ambulances and blow the sirens" and "stand outside and clap every Tuesday at 8 pm to salute the NHS" (England) have one purpose.

Make these people untouchable.

 

Now, I'm not saying these doctors and nurses are not working hard and have not chosen a wonderful career.

But given this new "hero" designation, the average low information sheeple will no doubt immediately react in anger and refuse to listen to anyone who dares describes the horrific conditions in NYC hospitals.

After all, if things were really that bad, they'd tell us on CNN. Right?

And so would be invoked that time-honored phrase:  "Conspiracy Theory."
 

Of course, you all know where "conspiracy theory" came from, right?

It was invented by the CIA in the mid-'60s, to discredit anyone who was beginning to question the official narrative that Oswald was the lone gunman.

[ginger]

YD, in the course of my work, every place I visit now has a banner in front of their facility that says "HEROS WORK HERE"

Nevermind the pay, benefits, staffing and ethics are substandard. I've said this before...just because you CAN steal your employees vacation time doesn't mean you should. This pretty much sums things up...

 

[ginger]

On 4/26/2020 at 10:10 AM, PeteMoss said:

People in the Health Care profession have a moral obligation to go to work.

 

One time I took a vacation day around Christmas time to get some things done...My supervisor left this message on my machine..."Ginger if you aren't really on vacation you need to get in here because all of your people are dying."

It was flu season.

[YankeeDoodle]

Another video of some "heroes" hard at work - this time dancing with a "corpse". (This was based on the meme of dancing pallbearers in Ghana from a few years ago.)

 

 

[YankeeDoodle]

British journalist Katie Hopkins gives her take on all of the dancing nurses videos:

 

 

[ginger]

On 4/27/2020 at 3:00 PM, ginger said:

https://www.researchgate.net/post/COVID-19_and_respiratory_distress-could_it_be_surfactant_deficiency_May_exogenous_surfactant_help

Just following up...back when I posted in 2020, after reading Wolf's post, I had the idea surfactant given early might help people and went looking for answers which led to the link I posted of some seriously credentialed professionals thinking the same thing, but no one would listen to them.

Turns out, they were onto to something. If you skip down to the 2023 conclusions...the preliminary studies think it's helpful and have actually led to other studies using surfactant as a carrier for other medicines.