Healthcare employees are making modifications to conserve a minimal supply of protective equipment as they deal with a growing variety of COVID-19 patients. But without quick action from the federal government, they stress they will not have enough to keep themselves or patients safe– a scenario that would be alarming for all included.
” We would not send out the United States military to war without uniforms, devices, or armor– that would be outrageous,” stated Sylvia Owusu-Ansah, a pediatric emergency situation medicine doctor at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. “So why are we enabling this for our front-line pandemic service providers?”
N95 respirators and other important personal protective devices referred to as PPE are essential to helping healthcare workers safeguard versus spreading out infection and remaining safe themselves. The equipment is not something they would normally even think about going into particular care settings without, both to protect the clients and themselves.
But the coronavirus pandemic has produced scarcities in some areas for N95 face masks and other important supplies. And although the Trump administration has actually promised to supply more, the federal government hasn’t clarified when this will occur, and workers on the ground say they are still waiting. The low supply is producing prevalent stress and anxiety among healthcare workers who know that dealing with clients without the appropriate PPE can carry major dangers, not just to their health but to clients and the more comprehensive health care system.
” I think that all of us are worried that we need to safeguard ourselves both to be there for our clients and to avoid becoming a vector for transmission of illness,” said Arvind Venkat, an emergency situation physician at Allegheny General Health Center in Pittsburgh and president of the Pennsylvania chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians
Suitable devices helps health care workers prevent getting sick and keeps them in the workforce, explained Mark Simon, a Washington state-based OB/GYN and primary medical officer at Ob Hospitalist Group. If a health care employee without protective devices is exposed to a COVID-19 patient for an extended duration, Centers for Disease Control and Avoidance standards need they be restricted from work for 14 days.
” There are a limited variety of doctors or minimal number of nurse