Are Big City Hospitals Really Getting Hit With COVID-19 Pts?

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I'm almost embarrassed to post this... I am an ED nurse at a 450-bed hospital in the midwest. We have not been taxed by COVID patients yet. My wife has become somewhat of a conspiracy theorist and is questioning everything. She found a thread somewhere that convinced her that what we are seeing on TV is not really happening. We have had some serious arguments about this stuff, but she won't stop. She said that lots of nurses were reporting that nothing was happening at their hospitals.

I would like to see if any of the nurses from the hospitals that are being seriously affected are on this forum and can comment. I realize that most of you are probably too exhausted to even get on a forum.

Thank you!

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I am wondering the exact same thing. I have also come across some questionable information and would love clarification from those of you on the front lines. Please comment if you’re at a hospital where this virus is overwhelming your unit.

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I'm not actually doubting the news. I am trying to get some actual nurses to post to show my wife.

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Specializes in Psych.

I live in Houston and it doesn't seem to be hitting us (*knocks on wood*) that badly.

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I work at a 300 bed rural Pennsylvania hospital. We are being hit. They are floating med surg, OR, and peds staff to ICU to work as helping hands or take the least sick patients (no drips or vents) that has never happened, not in swine flu, not our major ECMO use flus, never. I have tripled, I have worked extra shifts, I have offered my first born to nurses to come in- but I have never seen non critical care nurses used in the units. I have not worked ICU in my current hospital, only low acuity family health services (maternity, peds, etc) ICU is starting to put me on the schedule because I wasn't getting enough hours in FHS. (Our covid kids have been stabilizing quickly and ready for DC in a couple days)

Your actual question. I used to work in a city hospital, bedroom community to NYC. My friends there and my friends in the city are extremely busy. It's truly unprecedented. hospitals are pretty much as shown on TV (although the media does gloss over some great recovery stories and extubation celebrations) I even have a friend who is in a community health clinic and they are constantly seeing symptomatic patients and doing testing (he's one of my nurse friends who has been covid+, so far, all my nurse friends have done well)

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I think areas that locked down before it started spreading are doing well. New York closed the barn door after the cows ran away.

...And the cows ran to their vacation home and relatives in PA, NJ, CT, so it spread here. (We're rural but the highway runs through the county)

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Specializes in ED, ICU, MS/MT, PCU, CM, House Sup, Frontline mgr.

OP: There are people trying to politized the Pandemic to make a buck! So much so, they are asking people around the country to ask themselves if he/she knows anyone personally experiencing this? Knowing that some people in some places will not be able to respond with an answer other than, no. The other question that they are asking is if he/she knows anyone personally who has died of the virus? If yes, the question is, did that person already have a precondition? Knowing that the implication of these last questions is that people who died were going to die anyway and likely did not die of the virus. Or that people died of the virus, but it is not a big deal because they would have died anyway. So, your wife and her friends are sadly playing into the conspiracy theorist hands, who absolutely do not have her interest or her personal safety at heart!

In any case, if your wife wants to experience a hard hit area for herself to be a true believer, she can simply go online and find hard hit areas... She and her nursing friends can volunteer in those places or sign up with a travel agency to work in those places for a lot of money to experience the horror first hand.

My hope is that she and her nursing friends will stop spreading the lie that this is fake. The lie will not benefit her, your family, or your community... The lie only benefits those who want to go back to making money hand-over-fist as the virus continues to kill frontline workers (us) and the most vulnerable in our society. Good luck and stay safe.

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SummerGarden, are you saying that your hospital is getting hit hard by the virus? The OP is asking a genuine question and that’s the question you should be answering. Yes, there are propagandists on both sides, unfortunately.

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14 hours ago, EPS said:

I'm almost embarrassed to post this... I am an ED nurse at a 450-bed hospital in the midwest. We have not been taxed by COVID patients yet. My wife has become somewhat of a conspiracy theorist and is questioning everything. She found a thread somewhere that convinced her that what we are seeing on TV is not really happening. We have had some serious arguments about this stuff, but she won't stop. She said that lots of nurses were reporting that nothing was happening at their hospitals.

I would like to see if any of the nurses from the hospitals that are being seriously affected are on this forum and can comment. I realize that most of you are probably too exhausted to even get on a forum.

Thank you!

In what possible way is nurses were reporting that nothing was happening at their hospitals relevant to the question? If a hurricane was moving toward you, would you take the kids to the park because it hadn't hit?

If your wife believes this is a conspiracy, and not seriously happening, that is a serious problem. For her, and whoever is sharing this nonsense. It is weird combination of being simpleminded and imaginative.

But the fact that you even asked the question should make you a lot more than "almost embarrassed"

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The OP is asking an honest question and hoping for honest reports, not criticism. Are you saying that your hospital is being hit hard? Because that’s his question.

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On 4/15/2020 at 7:43 AM, rebecpar said:

The OP is asking an honest question and hoping for honest reports, not criticism. Are you saying that your hospital is being hit hard? Because that’s his question.

The question of what is happening in my hospital is irrelevant to whether or not there is a global pandemic wreaking havoc. But, I will offer a trade:

I will give a sincere, non-judgmental answer. In return, I would like to understand the thought process of how this could not be real.

My hospital is seeing a slow steady influx of covid. Some intubations, some deaths. A bunch of more moderate cases. My state has an excellent CDC with a well spoken, knowledgeable leader. Our state EMS has just ramped up to phase two protocols, which allow them to leave likely Covid PTs at home in anticipation of this following the same trajectory it has in similar regions.

You have called your wife a conspiracy theorist. But, when you asked the question here the implication is that you are not 100% sure this is 100% real.

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Yes, I work at a major hospital in NYC. We exceeded our normal ICU capacity (and this includes 5 ICUs, three of which have two units each for a total of 8 ICUs) and had to open up new ICU beds in other locations, such as the Cath lab and ORs. Stepdown units also had a number of their beds turned into ICU beds. We also made single ICU rooms into doubles in two of the ICUs. ICU nurses care for anywhere from 2-4 COVID pts, sometimes with a helper RN (a stepdown/medsurg nurse), sometimes not. When a patient dies, once the bed is clean another ICU patient rolls in. There's at least 2 overhead pages every shift for a rapid/anesthesia. PACU, cath lab, etc nurses are now functioning as ICU nurses.

It's really happening.

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