‘The rest of the country has become numb’: Dr. Megan Ranney pleads with public to remember humanity amid COVID-19
“This has become the norm.”
Dr. Megan Ranney has been working on the front lines caring for COVID-19 patients since the pandemic began. But something different stood out to the emergency room physician when she worked two evenings in the COVID-19 “pods” at her Rhode Island hospital’s E.R. recently.
Related Links
“What struck me — more than at any other point during the pandemic — was the resignation that I heard,” Ranney, director of the Brown Lifespan Center for Digital Health, wrote on Twitter Sunday evening.
Patient after patient had below-normal oxygen levels — all of them facing a long road to recovery, “if” they recover.
Over and over, Ranney said she heard the same thing from the sick patients.
They expressed dismay at their “bad luck” since they’d made it “this far” without contracting the virus, she wrote. Others expressed disbelief — they were scheduled to receive their COVID-19 vaccine injection in the coming weeks.
Still others grappled with understanding that there is no treatment for the disease.
“Meanwhile, for those of us caring for them — this has become the norm,” Ranney wrote. “It’s just another unit full of patients on oxygen.
“All too easy to lose sight of the humanity of each life we’re touching,” she added.
Many health care workers now have a “template” for documenting the patient’s case and care, since the situations are all so similar. But the doctor said it is essential for everyone to “keep our thinking hats on” and outsmart the virus — to not be “lulled into complacency.”
Through all of the conditions, Ranney wrote that it is “easy” to forget patients are real people.
Having COVID-19 is a “very” lonely experience, the doctor wrote, and with the situation on the front lines, it can be overlooked that patients have “real fears, real families at home who are worrying about them, and real stories that deserve listening.”
That is the “real” danger, she wrote.
“If those of us working with patients feel this way — the rest of the country has become numb,” Ranney wrote.
The doctor issued four pleas to the public and officials “from the front lines.”
First, she stressed that the situation “is not normal.”
“[Two] we can still prevent it: masks and other basic measures do work,” Ranney wrote. “[Three], hope is on the way. Don’t give up now. #ThisIsOurShot. [Four], human lives matter.”
I worked the last 2 evenings in the #COVID19 pods of our ER.
What struck me – more than at any other point during the pandemic – was the resignation that I heard.
— Megan Ranney MD MPH 🌻 (@meganranney) January 31, 2021
And meanwhile, for those of us caring for them — this has become the norm.
It’s just another unit full of patients on oxygen.
All too easy to lose sight of the humanity of each life we’re touching.
— Megan Ranney MD MPH 🌻 (@meganranney) January 31, 2021
“Caught it from {work / family / unknown}
3-5 days of {fever / cough / fatigue / decreased appetite / SOB}. Also c/o {loss of taste & smell / vomiting / diarrhea}.
RFs include {***}
PE: Hypoxic on RA. {Tachycardic / normal rate} but regular. Tachypnea, coarse BS ….”
etc.
— Megan Ranney MD MPH 🌻 (@meganranney) January 31, 2021
And of course, just because someone has COVID, doesn’t mean that’s *all* they have. They may also have a neuro disorder worsened by the virus; or myocarditis caused by the virus; or blood clots caused by the virus.
Our job is to outsmart it. Not to be lulled into complacency.
— Megan Ranney MD MPH 🌻 (@meganranney) January 31, 2021
Having #COVID19 is a very, very lonely experience.
— Megan Ranney MD MPH 🌻 (@meganranney) January 31, 2021
So my plea from the frontlines. Let’s not forget:
1) THIS IS NOT NORMAL.
2) We can still prevent it: masks & other basic measures do work
3) Hope is on the way. Don’t give up now. #ThisIsOurShot 4) Human lives matter.— Megan Ranney MD MPH 🌻 (@meganranney) January 31, 2021
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com