One of my colleagues appeared unusually shaken today. A young nurse at the hospital who works with him was diagnosed with TB (tuberculosis). I was a little taken aback by his reaction. I had thought he was aware of an incredibly risky enviroment we work under. Obviously, I was wrong.
Furthermore, to my surprise, he asked me how best to prevent acquiring TB. He has worked in Nepal much more than me and treated many more patients with TB, and in highest likelihood knows much more about TB than what an endocrinologist knows. So I told him, Daaktar saab, I may not be the best person to answer this, I don't recall treating a single patient with TB while doing my trainings in North America. But there were a handful patients that I have put in isolation room as a precaution (all of them turned out not to have TB). These isolation rooms have a special setup to change air with certain frequency after filtering and sending out the air. You are required to wear special masks that are able to stop you from inhaling TB organisms. All the health care workers are required to have skin tests for TB every year.
More than that, in our context, it is a disease of overcrowding: overcrowded homes with insufficient ventilation that help circulate the TB organisms in the air and make it easy for others to acquire. Recognizing this, Paul Farmer made it a point to go to his TB patients' homes in rural Haiti and help build new homes if they were of the mould that could predispose to TB. Our hospitals are certainly overcrowded and ICUs, where beds are crammed close, patients are coughing vigorously when a suction catheter is sent down their throat, is a place ripe for TB to plant in someone's lung. This time a victim was a young nurse amongst us (in highest likelihood she acquired infection at the ICU although she could have acquired the organisms from somewhere else too).
More than that, in our context, it is a disease of overcrowding: overcrowded homes with insufficient ventilation that help circulate the TB organisms in the air and make it easy for others to acquire. Recognizing this, Paul Farmer made it a point to go to his TB patients' homes in rural Haiti and help build new homes if they were of the mould that could predispose to TB. Our hospitals are certainly overcrowded and ICUs, where beds are crammed close, patients are coughing vigorously when a suction catheter is sent down their throat, is a place ripe for TB to plant in someone's lung. This time a victim was a young nurse amongst us (in highest likelihood she acquired infection at the ICU although she could have acquired the organisms from somewhere else too).
He lamented, while we are running around with bare minimum pay taking care of the patients, shouldn't someone be thinking about these kind of precautions?
The capacity of a place can be defined. How many people can this place serve effectively and safely, can be defined. But our hospitals do not do that exercise. We are guided by let's serve as many patients as we can. This sounds a nobel cause but we cannot ignore the risks. The risks to the patients and the risks to the providers.
The capacity of a place can be defined. How many people can this place serve effectively and safely, can be defined. But our hospitals do not do that exercise. We are guided by let's serve as many patients as we can. This sounds a nobel cause but we cannot ignore the risks. The risks to the patients and the risks to the providers.
No comments:
Post a Comment