Through Julien munoz
Published on 13 Apr 21 at 12:30
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It is a long service, divided into two units. At the heart of the Cotentin public hospital in Cherbourg (Some), like everywhere else, the resuscitation teams experience the fragility of a life on a daily basis. A fight between life and death which requires a high technical level of the nursing teams, but also a good dose of humanity. In the year, statistically, between a quarter and a third of people who enter intensive care will die.
Theory and practise
After a year of living together with the Covid-19, the teams are tired. “We now have a number of work stoppages that are probably more important than in normal times and that puts us in difficulty,” says Bertrand Sauneuf, head of the intensive care unit at CHPC.
People even left the hospital, left to work in other areas after the first wave. But it’s like that everywhere.
We have to reorganize ourselves accordingly, with little room for maneuver. For the first wave, everything had stopped and all the means were dedicated to resuscitation. This time, it is also more difficult for the Polyclinic, which is willing to take charge of some acts of surgery if it is necessary to relieve the CHPC, to provide nurses.
And if the General Directorate of Health Care (DGOS) asks hospitals to help on the territory those for whom resuscitation is overflowing, it is still necessary to have the human resources to do so.
For the past year, the CHPC has been offering accelerated training in the basics to soak up the specifics of care in a few days and relieve seasoned professionals from certain tasks.
Beds temporarily closed in some departments
” This is training that we worked on with the nursing institute, a few theoretical lessons and also with a simulation dummy which allowed us to show some situations, to explain the main principles, to teach both theoretical and a little more practical, ”says Bertrand Sauneuf.
It does not allow you to be autonomous, but it brings a plus to be more comfortable with all these techniques. The last time, in November, a dozen nurses were trained and since some have come.
The problem, given the hospital’s limited staffing room, is that having to undress one department to dress another quickly reaches its limit. This can lead to temporary bed closures in some wards. Unions note that staff trained during the first wave could not therefore be available for the second, And so on.
A number
Seven doctors work in the intensive care unit of the CHPC. There are about twenty nurses, but much less now because of the absences caused by exhaustion.
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Four doctors provided these trainings, in conjunction with a trainer from IFSI. For doctors, training is nothing new. “To have recourse to ventilation techniques, you need to be trained, to be used to it, to have experience and a nurse who can do resuscitation, it does not take shape in a week.
With our means, within the hospital, we have on the one hand carried out a theoretical training of 24 hours, by the doctors of the intensive care unit. On two occasions, we “trained”, we demystified the matter.
” And especially, caregivers came from other sectors, as a back-up, to be able to then ensure a post in intensive care. They came to overtake their colleague to gradually train. Because that’s ultimately how we get trained, through companionship. “
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