'The mood in my hospital is supportive but there is an undercurrent of fear. Even the older doctors have never lived through anything like this. It’s new for everyone'
I’m an obstetrics and gynaecology trainee, in my second year of specialist training. I work in a hospital in north London, usually dealing with women’s health, pregnant mothers and delivering babies. Now, however, I’m being redeployed to an emergency medical rota to help manage Covid-19 within my hospital.
In terms of PPE [personal protective equipment], every time we see someone who is a confirmed or suspected Covid-19 case, we are donning goggles, a mask, an apron and gloves. If we’re called to a cardiac arrest, and the patient needs to be given CPR , we have been given a window of four minutes to change into PPE before we can begin resuscitating. Supplies of PPE are not plentifully available, so this worries me, but we are being told that there are more on the way.
Personally, I think we were too slow to implement lockdown in the UK. It’s so easy at the moment, especially when you don’t know anyone who has died, to feel like coronavirus is an abstract concept. But if you watch the videos that doctors in Italy have been making, telling us how serious this is – well, soon, everyone may know of someone who has died. Everyone needs to stay inside, and keep the pressure off the NHS as much as possible.
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