One week later, so close to getting through this. Hopefully no more 8am to 8 pm so that I can get sushi.
Can't tell how many times my doggies choked on their food due to excitement. Thank God those CPR classes paid off because every time I have to slap the back of my dogs just to get the food unclogged. My dogs are small, so it works. I'm not sure about bigger dogs, as so far my huge dog haven't choked on his food before.
- Keep giving 5 back slaps and 5 chest thrusts until the object comes out
Published on February 26, 2020 by Healthwise Staff
Medical Review: William H. Blahd Jr. MD, FACEP - Emergency Medicine & Adam Husney MD - Family Medicine & Kathleen Romito MD - Family Medicine
Today's evening shift was chaos. Tons and tons of covid admissions came flooding in. When things go wonky, yep, you guessed it, people yelling at us demanding to get admitted now. Really? I think they expect us to say, "Yeah, let's go. Full speed ahead." Come to think of it, I don't think I ever shared how we go about. Let me tell you how things goes:
1) Assessment (AKA Interview via Phone)
Non-negotiable. If the patient is fit to talk, we prefer to talk to them directly as we need a thorough medical history, depending on complexity of the cases and if the person on behalf happens to know the case, we can move fast. Otherwise we'll have to wait till they get back to us.
*FOR SEVERE CASES, CALL 999 OR HEAD TO THE NEAREST GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT
2) Specialist and Bed
"It it subjected on to a case by case basis and depending on the bed availability." This is the one thing we stressed everytime when people ask for covid admission. Once we got the medical history, we need to call the specialist to see who is willing to take the case. Most of the time it is straightforward, however, we have incidents where we have to get other specialists involved because for example, if the patient has a heart problem, we have to contact the cardiologist, or if the patient has a history of respiratory problems, so we need to get the respiratory physician.
(I got an enquiry on someone demanding for a covid doctor. There's no specific covid doctor, our physicians are the ones who treats the patients. Again, depending on the case, we may need to get other specialists involved)
Depending on the case, we will provide the appropriate bed. If we think the patient's condition may worsen or depending on the medical history, we will need to give them monitoring or ICU beds. Some patients will request for specific beds so we try our best to accommodate to their request.
3) Deposit (The Most Essential)
Once the specialist agrees to take the case and we have beds available, we will call the financial team to get involved as there will be a minimum deposit fee required. The financial team are extremely busy as well, so it may take time to get them as there are few of them, not everyone can do financial counselling. They depend on us to give the medical history as accurate as possible so that they are able to advise. Financial counselling can take quite long depending on the case complexity and depending on the patient. If the patient is new, they will need time to register to create a record for them. If the financial team did not give us the green light, we are unable to proceed further.
4) Bed Board
In between while waiting for financial side, we will check with bed board on which bed to give as they are the ones who assign beds for the whole place. At the same time, we will also need to prompt the ward to give them a heads up.
5) Security and Housekeeping (And Everything In Between)
Assuming that financial team had given us the green light, we will need to get security and housekeeping (Again, it may takes some time as they have limited man power and they need to run the whole place) involved as they need to escort the patient. Both teams will need to wear full PPE 'regalia' which takes time, and it's HOT. Patient need to give us an estimated time of arrival so that we are able to prompt them to plan their time so that they don't end up waiting for more than an hour in the 'regalia'. (It happened before, poor things D=)
*Usually during this time, we will also prep patients to prepare some clothing (Usually a few shirts, pants and a jacket because it is extremely cold, and the hospital gown is not flattering), some snacks (Preferably snacks in packets such as biscuits), basic toiletries, essential items (such as mobile phones, powerbanks, cables, laptops, I-pads, books etc) because once you go in, you can't come out. And for heaven's sake, don't go and turn off our air filters (Which is really noisy, understandable, but don't touch it!). That's the negative air pressure filter. No one can bring things to you because we are trying to limit the amount of people coming in and out. No visitors allowed.
There you have it. Looks simple, but we have so many things to go through. In between expect some hiccups. We are no magicians, we do what we can.
I wonder if people are being funny on purpose. I got few phone calls from people asking me how safe the hospital is. "Well, aren't you all taking covid cases? How safe is the place? Will the normal patients be breathing the same air as the normal cases?" *insert sarcasm here* Why don't you ask us who are there nearly everyday? What a coincidence that I wrote about negative pressure in the previous blog post because I ended up explaining to few people regarding the ventilation system. Besides, the covid patients have their own special wards, and they have their own special entrance. Don't worry. You won't bump into them, and you won't see them. (See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil)
Okay, got to run because tomorrow morning is going to be a busy, busy day.
*Today's case: 5,566 (Oh look, lucky number)
