Cohort quarantine nursing hospital screams “All this dies, please take it out”

“If you do not transfer to the intensive care unit tomorrow, there is a high risk of dying 4 to 5 people. Please get the patient out.”

On the afternoon of the 27th, a medical staff member of the Smile Medical Center in Guro-gu, Seoul made an appeal. One hour before talking to the reporter, he was sorrowful that a patient in his 80s had died. Three days ago, the patient was put on the list of patients with gastric/severe conditions and called for transfer, but it was useless. At that time, blood oxygen saturation (normal is over 95) and blood pressure dropped, and urine did not come out, but eventually died. This is the hospital’s second death.

157 people were confirmed by the afternoon of the day after the first confirmation on the 15th, and 60 people remain. There are 10 patients with gastric and severe symptoms. The medical team said, “Because we cannot test blood and X-rays, we cannot accurately determine the patient’s condition.” said. He said, “I have no experience in corona 19 treatment and there is no artificial respirator, so the conditions and skills to treat perjury patients are not available,” he said. “There is only early transfer.

Moreover, about half of the infected people in this hospital are caregivers and staff, so there is no one to take care of patients. You have to change your position to prevent bedsores, and you have to change diapers, but that doesn’t work. “After quarantine in the cohort, the patient must be transferred to another location at an appropriate time, but the number of confirmed patients increased to 157,” Lee said. I was trapped on the 12th and struggled with the patient, so I couldn’t sleep properly. My head is blank,” he said.

A similar situation is taking place in nursing hospitals and nursing homes nationwide. It is difficult to transport patients here due to the lack of critically ill beds. Despite expert warning that such a facility will become a Corona 19’black hole’, the authorities have neglected the countermeasures. According to the Central Defense Response Headquarters, 46 confirmed cases of Corona 19 died in nursing homes and nursing homes this month (as of 0:00 on the 27th).

164 people were confirmed after cohort quarantine on the 12th at Hyoplus Nursing Hospital in Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do, and 32 (7 died after transfer) died. As of the 27th, 42 confirmed patients remain in the hospital. A Bucheon city official said, “After the cohort quarantine, we have been requesting beds from Gyeonggi Province, but the number of deaths continues due to lack of beds. I have a lot of worries.”

A nursing care worker at the Smile Morning Nursing Hospital in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, was infected with three colleagues while caring for a Corona 19 patient. “I took care of my fellow caregivers and 20 elderly people 24 hours a day. Both the caregiver and the patient were infected.” He said, “I got infected in the process of getting a confirmed patient’s urine and feces, sitting in a wheelchair, and going to rehabilitation treatment,” he said.

Dong-Hyun Kim, President of the Korean Epidemiology Association (Professor of Hallym University Medical School) said, “I suffered from group infections at Cheongdo Daenam Hospital in February and March. After that, I cried out to prepare for a large-scale infection in nursing hospitals, etc., but I didn’t prepare properly. There are no guidelines.” Professor Kim said, “If an infection occurs in a facility, reserve medical personnel and caregivers should be put in early, and the confirmed cases and close contacts should be separated quickly. It is necessary to transfer to a treatment facility where caregivers are supported for bedridden, mental illness, and kidney dialysis.”

Welfare reporter Shin Seong-sik, reporter Choi Moran and Kim Min-wook [email protected]