Based on a true story.
Here comes the morning of June 8th. The day I was supposed to suit up in my PPE and enter the no- man's land. I was the only doctor responsible for 36 Covid positive patients. When I say Covid positive patients, I mean patients with full blown signs and symptoms of Covid- 19 (yay!). Normally I wouldn't mind walking up to a patient and checking his blood pressure or pressing on his abdomen to wait and notice a wince. But this was different. Well, different because the patients were openly coughing on my face and also because I didn't want Corona.
So there I was at the nurse's station, doing my documentations, updating the medications and breathing through my mouth inside the PPE while struggling to see things through my foggy PPE goggles. As I was multitasking so brilliantly or so I thought.. Sister comes running screaming "the patient's heart rate is 40.. the heart rate is 40. Call the consultant, Shift the patient to ICU."
Naturally, I panic too. "THE HEART RATE IS 40?"
But let's face it, no consultant was going to suit up and enter the forbidden territory. No code blue team was going to come and steal the show. Even if they did (which they wouldn't), it would be too late. I was the decision- maker. I was the foggy eyed, sweaty leader who had to make a call. So I started running too. Passive transmission of panic is a real thing.
If I say Yes! Call the consultant- he won't be too happy. If I say Yes! shift to ICU and they do end up going to the ICU, it would mean exposing a lot of staff too. So I start thinking.. I start thinking HARD.
Then it hits me, the heart rate was seen on a machine.. a Pulse oximeter. And machines can be wrong not that humans are right all the time. So I think to myself I need to check him first before I make any calls. I enter his room and there he was, completely different than what I imagined him to be. He was on the bed, lying down and watching TV. He was more comfortable on that bed than I was in my PPE (obviously) and my heart rate wasn't 40 for sure.
So I walk up to him and start talking, nothing fancy just talking. You know how sick people love to talk about their health. And once they know you're a doctor, you're in for a treat. I place my hand on his wrist to feel and count his pulse while I listen to his blah blah blah (no offense).
I count his pulse rate for a minute, it was 85. I counted it again just to be sure. It 85-86 again.
So you see, in medicine there's a massive amount of significance given to "touch and feel". If you fail to touch your patients when needed and fail to feel their pain-- ignorance begins. And ignorance in medicine is not forgiven. That said, this pandemic has changed the world. The practice of medicine is changing, the plan of treatment is changing. So wearing a mask and washing your hands is the new normal. You must take care of yourself first. Doctors in PPE are disabled up to some extent, spare us the extra Covid duties and stay indoors.
Good news is that the patient didn't need to be shifted to ICU and I didn't have to call up the consultant (phew!).
Fin.