Any nurses here that worked in a Covid infected ward?
Discussion
A dear old neighbour friend of mine,a 92 year old lady unfortunately had a bad stroke,2 days after her booster vaccine.She was fit as as a flea before hand and lived independantly in her one bed flat up the road from me.
I helped her with her ipad,internet needs and running her to hospital for eye treatment,in return i seemed to get any knitted item of clothing i needed! :-)
So,she was in a hospital ward where someone had Covid,she was then moved to another hospital and just after this move someone was diagnosed with Covid in her ward again!
Question is with all these people lying around having suffered strokes,or have heart problems 'none' of them are wearing masks?What do wards do with their patients when there's Covid in a ward?If masks are such an essential preventative measure?
I helped her with her ipad,internet needs and running her to hospital for eye treatment,in return i seemed to get any knitted item of clothing i needed! :-)
So,she was in a hospital ward where someone had Covid,she was then moved to another hospital and just after this move someone was diagnosed with Covid in her ward again!
Question is with all these people lying around having suffered strokes,or have heart problems 'none' of them are wearing masks?What do wards do with their patients when there's Covid in a ward?If masks are such an essential preventative measure?
It will differ trust to trust but patients aren’t expected to wear masks 100% of them time if they are in their own bed. Distancing, hand hygiene, regular cleaning, staff changing PPE etc will all be helpful. But simply sick patients won’t tolerate a masks 24 hours a day so it doesn’t happen. A good portion of the healthy population can’t manage it for 5 minutes.
robbocop33 said:
A dear old neighbour friend of mine,a 92 year old lady unfortunately had a bad stroke,2 days after her booster vaccine.She was fit as as a flea before hand and lived independantly in her one bed flat up the road from me.
I helped her with her ipad,internet needs and running her to hospital for eye treatment,in return i seemed to get any knitted item of clothing i needed! :-)
So,she was in a hospital ward where someone had Covid,she was then moved to another hospital and just after this move someone was diagnosed with Covid in her ward again!
Question is with all these people lying around having suffered strokes,or have heart problems 'none' of them are wearing masks?What do wards do with their patients when there's Covid in a ward?If masks are such an essential preventative measure?
It's impossible to force already sick people to have a mask on 24/7 for one thing you need easy access to their mouth for medication oxygen and in case of emergencies. I helped her with her ipad,internet needs and running her to hospital for eye treatment,in return i seemed to get any knitted item of clothing i needed! :-)
So,she was in a hospital ward where someone had Covid,she was then moved to another hospital and just after this move someone was diagnosed with Covid in her ward again!
Question is with all these people lying around having suffered strokes,or have heart problems 'none' of them are wearing masks?What do wards do with their patients when there's Covid in a ward?If masks are such an essential preventative measure?
A majority of hospital patients are elderly wearing a mask constantly whilst they are in a ward will cause serious discomfort and skin damage its no big deal to wear a mask for around 5 or 6 hours after that it can get a bit uncomfortable my record is 16 hours with breaks to have a drink and the backs of my ears were raw.
Yep,that was the point of my post,you can't force them to wear masks as they're incapacitated so what do you do?In a way they couldn't be anymore vulnerable,surrounded by Covid and unable to remove themselves/protect themselves from the situation.
If it was up to me and i was a direct relative i'd have her out of there,home safe and getting her physio at home(loss of feeling down her left side),as she's been declared 'medically' fit,plus for her state of mental health she would benefit from being back home.
If it was up to me and i was a direct relative i'd have her out of there,home safe and getting her physio at home(loss of feeling down her left side),as she's been declared 'medically' fit,plus for her state of mental health she would benefit from being back home.
They're pushing to get people out ASAP at the moment, but it takes more then being medically fit to get someone home, particularly after something like a stroke. Often the home needs adaptations (hoists(?) rails, handles, decluttering...), a care package needs to be sorted (we're struggling for carers ATM...) and the likelihood of any physio/OT input is slim as they're also horrendously busy. You'll struggle to get a check visit for adaptations, regular specialist rehab in the community is pie in the sky.
In the meantime, 2m+ spacing and open windows is the order of the day.
(I'm a musculoskeletal physio but have done community and ward work during the pandemic.)
In the meantime, 2m+ spacing and open windows is the order of the day.
(I'm a musculoskeletal physio but have done community and ward work during the pandemic.)
When i was in hospital with Covid, the ward was essentially in Isolation. In our local hospital the wards are oblong shaped, so you walk in from the central lifts and you have north and south wards. Each ward has a few single rooms but the bulk of them are bays.
Each ward has been sectioned off with partition walls by the nurses station and once you are in that ward, you don't come out until you are better or get moved elsewhere within the hospital.
Because i had been laid up essentially bed bound for the best part of a month at this point, once i was able to shuffle more than a few feet, i wanted to get some exercise in so i asked if i could have a mask and some gloves, so i could go for a walk.
I might as well have said i was Charles Manson's forgotten son judging by the looks i got
Yet strangely, those who wanted to go to the smoking area were okay to leave the ward 
I'm not saying our local trust is bad, they looked after me when i was in big trouble with Covid but some of their decisions are a bit......well....strange for want of a better word.
Each ward has been sectioned off with partition walls by the nurses station and once you are in that ward, you don't come out until you are better or get moved elsewhere within the hospital.
Because i had been laid up essentially bed bound for the best part of a month at this point, once i was able to shuffle more than a few feet, i wanted to get some exercise in so i asked if i could have a mask and some gloves, so i could go for a walk.
I might as well have said i was Charles Manson's forgotten son judging by the looks i got
Yet strangely, those who wanted to go to the smoking area were okay to leave the ward I'm not saying our local trust is bad, they looked after me when i was in big trouble with Covid but some of their decisions are a bit......well....strange for want of a better word.
Bill said:
They're pushing to get people out ASAP at the moment, but it takes more then being medically fit to get someone home, particularly after something like a stroke. Often the home needs adaptations (hoists(?) rails, handles, decluttering...), a care package needs to be sorted (we're struggling for carers ATM...) and the likelihood of any physio/OT input is slim as they're also horrendously busy. You'll struggle to get a check visit for adaptations, regular specialist rehab in the community is pie in the sky.
In the meantime, 2m+ spacing and open windows is the order of the day.
(I'm a musculoskeletal physio but have done community and ward work during the pandemic.)
Thanks for the reply,yes i'm aware the adaptions would have to be made and this will take a while.She has a great support network around her in her day to day life,her friend who takes her shopping is a physio,and my wife was a carer and we're just 4 houses away.I just hope she pulls through this and escapes the covid risks.In the meantime, 2m+ spacing and open windows is the order of the day.
(I'm a musculoskeletal physio but have done community and ward work during the pandemic.)
Gael, my partner has just spent a week in hospital with Covid (read more in the 'I have Covid' thread' in Health Matters.) She was admitted into EMU (not a Covid ward) where she spent a night in a side room where she had to put a mask on whenever anyone came in. Some nurses were reluctant to go into her room because she had Covid and hovered at the door when she pressed her call buzzer - on the outside of her door was a big sign 'Covid - restricted access'.
Staff who attended her were kitted out with masks plus visors or goggles, disposable gloves and apron.
She was transferred the Covid ward, again in a side room where the staff wore exactly the same: masks plus visors or goggles, disposable gloves and apron; the gloves and apron were disposed of in a bin as staff left her room. In the Covid ward a patient did not have to wear a mask.
When the cleaner mopped her floor the mop head was used once and binned and her sheets were changed daily and double-bagged, as was her hospital issue nightie.
Staff who attended her were kitted out with masks plus visors or goggles, disposable gloves and apron.
She was transferred the Covid ward, again in a side room where the staff wore exactly the same: masks plus visors or goggles, disposable gloves and apron; the gloves and apron were disposed of in a bin as staff left her room. In the Covid ward a patient did not have to wear a mask.
When the cleaner mopped her floor the mop head was used once and binned and her sheets were changed daily and double-bagged, as was her hospital issue nightie.
I’m on a 4 bed ward as I write and tested positive last Thursday. I have what they’re calling a low grade infection and all I’m getting is sneezing and sniffles.
The other wards had covid last week but there didn’t seem to be any panic and it all cleared up 4/5 days ago. The staff didn’t seem concerned at all, ward doors were left open there didn’t appear much sanitisation going on with the toilets.
I believe I’m the only currently positive patient here. My ward mates have all had covid quite recently. They are allowed down to the concourse snd outside. No mask wearing on wards but in the corridor. Ward doors are being closed by some nurses but left by others. Under NHS rules I have to isolate for 10 days. I’ve asked for another test to prove me negative but they’ve said they won’t do that anymore.
Not sure this helps you much. If she’s fit and well and needs no support they can’t stop her going home
The other wards had covid last week but there didn’t seem to be any panic and it all cleared up 4/5 days ago. The staff didn’t seem concerned at all, ward doors were left open there didn’t appear much sanitisation going on with the toilets.
I believe I’m the only currently positive patient here. My ward mates have all had covid quite recently. They are allowed down to the concourse snd outside. No mask wearing on wards but in the corridor. Ward doors are being closed by some nurses but left by others. Under NHS rules I have to isolate for 10 days. I’ve asked for another test to prove me negative but they’ve said they won’t do that anymore.
Not sure this helps you much. If she’s fit and well and needs no support they can’t stop her going home
My wife has worked covid wards for the past two years. Initially it was almost a case of not allowing anyone in unless they had covid and needed treatment, but then they started splitting wards/departments so you’d have a covid isolation section and a “non-infected” section. Now they just have the one isolation ward where covid positive patients suffering a variety of ailments are put - fortunately Mrs BSDDDD has experienced a lot of specialisations in the NHS so is coping!
On her ward because they’re all covid positive anyway, patients don’t use masks unless they want to. I’m not sure about the other wards but I’ll ask her later. I know that multiple staff have been off sick with respiratory bugs that they believe are down to the extended mask use ie breathing in the crap that the body is trying to breathe out, so I’m unsure if it’s something they’d get patients to suffer too!
Trouble they’ve had is that many people would be in the non-infected section while waiting for test results, when patients were transferred they’d often be passing covid infected in corridors/elevators etc If we had more hospitals rather than running a bare bones service, they’d have been a lot more successful in reducing hospital transmission by having test zones before admittance, covid-only hospitals etc Instead the government expected understaffed hospitals that were already overrun and struggling for patient space to then take into account a pandemic situation. Sadly I doubt any lessons have been learned!
On her ward because they’re all covid positive anyway, patients don’t use masks unless they want to. I’m not sure about the other wards but I’ll ask her later. I know that multiple staff have been off sick with respiratory bugs that they believe are down to the extended mask use ie breathing in the crap that the body is trying to breathe out, so I’m unsure if it’s something they’d get patients to suffer too!
Trouble they’ve had is that many people would be in the non-infected section while waiting for test results, when patients were transferred they’d often be passing covid infected in corridors/elevators etc If we had more hospitals rather than running a bare bones service, they’d have been a lot more successful in reducing hospital transmission by having test zones before admittance, covid-only hospitals etc Instead the government expected understaffed hospitals that were already overrun and struggling for patient space to then take into account a pandemic situation. Sadly I doubt any lessons have been learned!
robbocop33 said:
Thanks for the reply,yes i'm aware the adaptions would have to be made and this will take a while.She has a great support network around her in her day to day life,her friend who takes her shopping is a physio,and my wife was a carer and we're just 4 houses away.I just hope she pulls through this and escapes the covid risks.
The hospital may well not be aware of her support network. It depends what she's told them (Assuming she's able, plus she may not feel she can expect you to help.) Or what her family/NoK are thinking.Have you been in touch with her or her family? Do you know how bad the stroke is? Things like is she continent, can she swallow, can she transfer or even walk, how is her communication, has her personality changed?
There are a hell of a lot of variables!
The stroke has weakened her left leg and her left arm at the moment is the worst,she can't move it.She wasn't able to swallow for first three days,that resolved itself quickly,her personality is the same,she can speak well just a little laboured as her energy levels are kind of low,what with her age,the stroke,physio,lack of exercise....
She's had a hellish last six months,losing two young members of her family over in Australia(in their 40,s to cancer)and her 64 year daughter to a heart attack 3 months ago but she's a tough old bird,i'm just worried Covid if she gets it might just be one thing too much.
I often worry that hospitals not knowing a person just think ah,92 year old,not much point in putting too much effort into her,but i'm 55 and she could bend down,and see better than i can! She really was completely independant :-)
She's had a hellish last six months,losing two young members of her family over in Australia(in their 40,s to cancer)and her 64 year daughter to a heart attack 3 months ago but she's a tough old bird,i'm just worried Covid if she gets it might just be one thing too much.
I often worry that hospitals not knowing a person just think ah,92 year old,not much point in putting too much effort into her,but i'm 55 and she could bend down,and see better than i can! She really was completely independant :-)
robbocop33 said:
I often worry that hospitals not knowing a person just think ah,92 year old,not much point in putting too much effort into her,but i'm 55 and she could bend down,and see better than i can! She really was completely independant :-)
I know for a fact that a 90 year old won’t be considered a waste of time, the only thing they might encourage is a DNR to be put in place. This isn’t due to the Daily Mail belief that they’re killing the elderly, it’s purely because resuscitation is brutal and the elderly will struggle to recover from it. Gassing Station | Health Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff