We have 2 Covid units. I worked in the "ICU" designated Covid unit last night. We took 4 admissions and that unit is now full at 24 beds. It is a locked down unit. Once you are in, you cannot leave. Scrubs are provided. We draw our own labs, designated RT, no techs.
We opened the overflow "MedSurg" Covid unit with 2 new admissions. That unit will also hold 24 beds, also. All private rooms in both units.
I cared for a patient in negative pressure on Cpap, a lady in hi-flow O2, and a confused lady on room air. So, I was in airborne precautions wearing PAPR for two of my patients and contact/droplet for one patient. N95s are only available in the Go-Bags for intubation (codes).
I normally work a progressive care unit (cardiac) as charge. The house is 50% capacity right now (like most of you). We closed the unit below us. Those patients went to the floor above us and those nurses are sharing hours with the normal staff of the 6th floor. ED is also down. At one point on Saturday night, we only had 5 patients in the whole ED and by 7am, the ED was empty. It is eerie.
There is still a lot of mixed messages when it comes to making a patient "rule out" Covid. I know our nurses have been exposed due to sluggish responses of doctors not following decision trees. We have had one death that we know is Covid, but because she was DNR-CC, it was not worth it to test her (according to the doctors). That lady was taken out of precautions at one point, had a roommate...it was a mess. And we have seen that same error repeated over and again. This is how our frontline staff (RT, PT/OT, nurses, Lab, dietary, EVS, etc) will become ill.
