DON'T BE A MARTYR: There is No Emergency in a Pandemic

[dinah77, ADN]

*I want to be clear this not my original post- I would love to credit the OP, but I have no idea who that is



Please take the time to read this. Especially to all the healthcare workers I know who once a upon a time had been my classmates, students or colleagues.

Hi all, this was posted on another group and I believe is extremely valuable to everyone I work with and all the health care workers out there. Very powerful and easier said than done!

To all my fellow health care workers. You have been asking me what to do if we run out of PPE. With news of 13 Italian doctors dying from COVID19, here is the answer (reposted from a wise doctor friend).

*There is no emergency in a pandemic*

If you do not have proper PPE, do not go in. No matter what.

There is no emergency in a pandemic

You, as a healthcare worker, are a force multiplier. Your training and experience is invaluable moving into this crisis. So, you're going to be faced with some very difficult moments. You're going to have to put your needs first.

I'm speaking specifically about PPE and your safety.

If you're an ICU doc, ICU nurse or RRT and you become infected, not only are you out of the game for potentially weeks (or killed), but your replacements could be people without your expertise. Your remaining co-workers are short-staffed now, more likely to make mistakes and become ill themselves. You stop being a force multiplier and start using healthcare resources.

You going in may save the patient, it may not. But you can’t save any patients in the weeks your laying in a hospital bed or using a vent yourself.

People are going to die. Do not become one of them.

There is no emergency in a pandemic.

During the Ebola outbreak, people were dying. But at no point did we rush in, we took the 10 minutes to put on our PPE with our spotter. If we didn't have proper PPE we did NOT go in.

There is no emergency in a pandemic.

You may work in long term care, and want to rush in to save a patient you have had for years. Do not go in without your PPE

There is no emergency in a pandemic.

You may have a survivor in the room, screaming at you to come in because their mother is crashing. Do not go in without your PPE.

There is no emergency in a pandemic.

You may have an infected woman in labor. Screaming for help. Do not go in without your PPE.

There is no emergency in a pandemic.

You may have a self quarantined patient with a gunshot wound and is bleeding out. Do not go in there without your PPE

There is no emergency in a pandemic

Doing nothing may be the hardest thing you've ever had to do in your life.

Many of you say, I could never do that. I wouldn't be able to stop myself from rushing in and saving my patient.

Liberian nurses and doctors said the same thing, and many did run in to help, saying PPE be damned. My patients need me.

Then they became infected, they infected others. And they died. They didn't help anyone after that.

Do not let the deaths of hundreds of healthcare workers be forgotten.

-copied & reposted.