What is the situation like at UZ Gent?
“At the moment 18 people have been admitted with Covid-19. Ten of them are in intensive care. Many hospitals, including in Brussels and Sint-Niklaas, are already at their maximum capacity and send patients to us. But we too. threaten to stop coming with one Covid department, and are going to open a second one. “
During the first wave, there was a peak of 77 corona patients who were admitted at the same time at UZ Gent. Why is there already concern?
“You sometimes hear: pulmonologists are seasonal workers. Even without corona, the hospital is sometimes full in the winter months. Now we have to combine regular care, the increasing number of corona patients and people who postponed their care at the time – the catching-up process is in full swing. is the difficult situation we feared. Someone who needs surgery on his tonsils: whether you let that go through or not, that does not provide a ‘place’ for corona patients, because those people do not remain admitted. The tragic thing is that you have almost the major interventions – such as transplants – should postpone. But then you also lose lives again. Conclusion: we cannot close the gates again to people who need other care. But if we get caught off guard, we still end up in a state of war. “
Will there be enough staff if regular care continues?
“We feel that we are tighter there and are indeed concerned about the capacity of the staff. We are much less relieved of our other duties to fully devote ourselves to Covid-19. You notice that both nurses and doctors are on their gums. We continued to work on the delayed care all summer, and now everything is coming together.
What about motivation after eight months?
“During the first wave, the care providers felt enormously supported by the positive atmosphere in society, which is now much less present. Don’t get me wrong: we are not asking to start applauding again, but we also notice that there is too little support. to respect the measures. And yes, that has an influence on motivation. We wonder how we can keep all the balls in the air without causing collateral damage. “
What is the profile of the corona patients admitted to your home?
“There are people over 80, over 50s and even in their thirties, and both men and women. But it is striking that a ‘new’ group has emerged: patients who are initially admitted for a different reason and in whom per coincidental corona was diagnosed. There is also a great concern that certain communities, and therefore not only in Brussels, will be more difficult to reach. There are also patients who do not speak Dutch or French and of whom it appears that they are not informed. “
How different is the treatment of corona patients today?
“There are two things we are doing now in the hope that fewer people will be on a ventilator. On the one hand, we are starting a virus inhibitor in people who have a lack of oxygen. When they are already at a later stage of the disease, we give cortisone for further development. “On the other hand, we have learned that correcting blood clotting is extremely important. Blood thinners were administered from the start of the epidemic, but we now know that they have only a limited effect.”
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