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I'm Married to an ER Doc in NYC

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Re: I'm Married to an ER Doc in NYC

#41

Post by rcthompson »

joering2 wrote: post #13
dr_ wrote: post #3

Not an ER doc, but a doc in long term care facilities which have been hit particularly hard. Fortunately things have slowed down considerably now, but at its peak it was absolutely nerve racking. There’s an element to this pandemic which many people working in healthcare have felt. We see patients fall sick often, and we see them die often, although this was at an near overwhelming scale. But what we don’t see often…

> Fortunately things have slowed down considerably now, I don't get that tho. Supposedly accordingly to all stats, its as bad as its been before. We have 800 to 1,000 death per day and are on record to hit 200k death by September. How come I heard that the pandemic has slowed down yet... according to numbers its been the same.

Severity varies greatly by region. Compare NYC and the surrounding areas to the USA as a whole: https://outbreak.info/epidemiology?location=USA%3BMETRO_3562...

You can see that NYC is way down from the mid-April peak, but the USA as a whole is tailing off much more slowly as new outbreaks elsewhere offset the declines in areas that were initially hit hard.

(But still, note that "way down" for NYC is still around 500 new cases per day.)

Re: I'm Married to an ER Doc in NYC

#42

Post by dantheman »

skwb wrote: post #31
el_nahual wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What "facilities"? We're talking about changing clothes . Shower curtain ought to be enough! And the point about going to work in scrubs is also bad: scrubs should be as much about keeping stuff out of the hospital as in . If a neighborhood yoga studio can provide a place to change, pretty sure any healthcare facility can too.

The argument that's usually given is that changing 2x more per day is too much. I used to work for a research doctor and he would regularly hold meetings in his scrubs with high profile scientists.

Yeah, like washing your have is a big chore too.

Re: I'm Married to an ER Doc in NYC

#43

Post by trhway »

m4rtink wrote: post #32
dr_ wrote: post #3

Not an ER doc, but a doc in long term care facilities which have been hit particularly hard. Fortunately things have slowed down considerably now, but at its peak it was absolutely nerve racking. There’s an element to this pandemic which many people working in healthcare have felt. We see patients fall sick often, and we see them die often, although this was at an near overwhelming scale. But what we don’t see often…

This is what I thin many forget when they speak against lockdown and for "heard immunity" - that this would not only result in a huge ammount of unnecessary deaths, but also pretty much wear out if not outright kill a signifficant part of medical personel. It's basically condemning them to working nonstop for months if not years, watching people die all day long & being in infection danger at all times while at work.…

>It's basically condemning them to working nonstop for months if not years

how come? wouldn't without lockdown the herd immunity with that R0 would come in like 2-3 months (and during that period the vulnerable people would have to be locked down), while with lockdown we're already 3 months into it without reasonable lockdown based endgame in sight?

Re: I'm Married to an ER Doc in NYC

#44

Post by smabie »

throwawaylalala wrote: post #12
el_nahual wrote: post #9

> When Alex finally gets home, he takes his scrubs off outside our front door and stuffs them into a plastic bag that he ties off tightly. He takes his hospital clogs off and leaves them outside, along with his backpack and coat. Why do doctors and nurses walk around outside in their hospital scrubs? It was unsanitary even before COVID and I just don't get it. How hard can it be to change into street clothes before l…

It's actually not easy; not every place has facilities for that. Wife is a nurse, and we went through this discussion of the best process when she was an ICU nurse during the Ebola scare five years ago. Remember too, sometimes folks are on the way to work in their scrubs, not necessarily leaving work.

It's really not that hard to change your clothes in a bathroom. Especially in a hospital, where they certainly have a wheelchair accessible large private one. Also, many large hospitals also have a gym, so you could just change there.

Re: I'm Married to an ER Doc in NYC

#45

Post by redis_mlc »

m4rtink wrote: post #32
dr_ wrote: post #3

Not an ER doc, but a doc in long term care facilities which have been hit particularly hard. Fortunately things have slowed down considerably now, but at its peak it was absolutely nerve racking. There’s an element to this pandemic which many people working in healthcare have felt. We see patients fall sick often, and we see them die often, although this was at an near overwhelming scale. But what we don’t see often…

This is what I thin many forget when they speak against lockdown and for "heard immunity" - that this would not only result in a huge ammount of unnecessary deaths, but also pretty much wear out if not outright kill a signifficant part of medical personel. It's basically condemning them to working nonstop for months if not years, watching people die all day long & being in infection danger at all times while at work.…

> This is what I think many forget when they speak against lockdown and for "herd immunity" - that this would not only result in a huge ammount of unnecessary deaths, but also pretty much wear out if not outright kill a signifficant part of medical personel.

Actually, no. You're parroting nonsense.

The US cannot do testing and tracing because they waited too late, with 100,000 airline arrivals per week from China before (and during) the travel ban. So lockdown and masks accomplish nothing in the long run - we will all get corona until there's herd immunity, whether that's sooner or later.

And half of hospital staff have been laid off. Many could be retrained in weeks or months to work in a corona ICU - watching a monitoring machine for a drugged, intubated patient isn't harder than anything else in an ICU.

You know how annoying fake humility and humblebragging are? I find the fake empathy on HN just as annoying, and counter-productive.

Re: I'm Married to an ER Doc in NYC

#46

Post by nradov »

klmadfejno wrote: post #2

The way things are described make the doctors sound powerless. I've been frustrated by the lack the information on the usefulness of hospitals. The impression I've gotten is that they cannot do much, and if they would go as far as intubation, you're highly likely to die even with intubation.

There is a lot that doctors can do short of intubation. Take a look at this care protocol.

https://www.evms.edu/covid-19/covid_care_for_clinicians/#d.e...

Re: I'm Married to an ER Doc in NYC

#47

Post by majormajor »

redis_mlc wrote: post #45
m4rtink wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what I thin many forget when they speak against lockdown and for "heard immunity" - that this would not only result in a huge ammount of unnecessary deaths, but also pretty much wear out if not outright kill a signifficant part of medical personel. It's basically condemning them to working nonstop for months if not years, watching people die all day long & being in infection danger at all times while at work.…

> This is what I think many forget when they speak against lockdown and for "herd immunity" - that this would not only result in a huge ammount of unnecessary deaths, but also pretty much wear out if not outright kill a signifficant part of medical personel. Actually, no. You're parroting nonsense. The US cannot do testing and tracing because they waited too late, with 100,000 airline arrivals per week from China bef…

> The US cannot do testing and tracing because they waited too late.

"Cannot"? Why wouldn't it just require a much bigger effort?

I've been flabbergasted by the lack of wartime thinking this whole time in the US. We know how to mobilize things and build logistical supply chains, why can't we apply that to a in-country medical battle?

Not only did the US governments (at all levels) demonstrate incompetence early, we've now given up on even trying to be competent.

That bodes poorly for future events.

If you're a person who can work from home and isolate, or just someone who's not scared because you think your personal odds are good, then it burning through the rest of population faster is better than it burning through more slowly, which is the best most of the country had gotten through their restrictions. But wow... what a low standard for our country.

Re: I'm Married to an ER Doc in NYC

#48

Post by TylerE »

newacct583 wrote: post #20
joering2 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Fortunately things have slowed down considerably now, I don't get that tho. Supposedly accordingly to all stats, its as bad as its been before. We have 800 to 1,000 death per day and are on record to hit 200k death by September. How come I heard that the pandemic has slowed down yet... according to numbers its been the same.

It's not as bad as it's been. The US new case rate is down to about 65% of peak now. It's not dropping fast, but it's dropping. But a medical professional's subjective experience is local, and the US is a big place. Some regions are still (sigh) growing, and are indeed "as bad as it's been". But New York is now recording new cases at less than 10% of its peak from April. Broadly: much of the country, and all of the w…

The way things are trending, I expect it to start rising again.

Many southern states are rising rapidly, as well as in the southwest.

Here in NC we're double what we were a month ago in both daily new cases AND current hospitalizations.

https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/dashboard

Re: I'm Married to an ER Doc in NYC

#49

Post by tomrod »

trhway wrote: post #43
m4rtink wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what I thin many forget when they speak against lockdown and for "heard immunity" - that this would not only result in a huge ammount of unnecessary deaths, but also pretty much wear out if not outright kill a signifficant part of medical personel. It's basically condemning them to working nonstop for months if not years, watching people die all day long & being in infection danger at all times while at work.…

>It's basically condemning them to working nonstop for months if not years how come? wouldn't without lockdown the herd immunity with that R0 would come in like 2-3 months (and during that period the vulnerable people would have to be locked down), while with lockdown we're already 3 months into it without reasonable lockdown based endgame in sight?

The US did not lock down. A portion opted to stay at home if they could afford it, several industries were deemed essential (often with ridiculous inclusions), and the brunt is being borne by folks in poverty. We had between 40% and 60% reduction in urban mobility, much less in rural areas, and an increase in stay at home rates on par with a census block groups median household income. Then we re-opened too early. This is why there is no endgame in site.

Re: I'm Married to an ER Doc in NYC

#50

Post by GoOnThenDoTell »

throwawaylalala wrote: post #12
el_nahual wrote: post #9

> When Alex finally gets home, he takes his scrubs off outside our front door and stuffs them into a plastic bag that he ties off tightly. He takes his hospital clogs off and leaves them outside, along with his backpack and coat. Why do doctors and nurses walk around outside in their hospital scrubs? It was unsanitary even before COVID and I just don't get it. How hard can it be to change into street clothes before l…

It's actually not easy; not every place has facilities for that. Wife is a nurse, and we went through this discussion of the best process when she was an ICU nurse during the Ebola scare five years ago. Remember too, sometimes folks are on the way to work in their scrubs, not necessarily leaving work.

Why are they getting their scrubs exposed to the ‘outside’ at all?
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