Here’s how Brigham and Women’s nurses are working through the coronavirus outbreak
“It would be negligent not to conserve at this point.”
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Two employees of Brigham and Women’s Hospital have tested positive for the coronavirus, and 93 others on the hospital’s 24,000-worker staff are in a 14-day furlough due to potentially being exposed.
As the virus continues to make its way through Massachusetts, the hospital shared Tuesday what its nursing staff is doing to protect themselves from contracting COVID-19, as well as how they’re conserving personal protective equipment in the event of a potential shortage.
There are nurses and providers who are treating coronavirus-positive patients, according to Trish Powers, a Brigham operating room nurse and chair of the Massachusetts Nurses Association. She said during a Tuesday morning press conference that she had heard from one of the nurses in charge that morning.
“What her message to me is, they’re here, they’re doing it, they feel confident with the [personal protective equipment] they have right now, but also the training,” Powers said. “It’s just been amazing.”
Some Brigham nurses have been tested for the virus. Powers said she’s been in touch with them and they hope they test negative so they can return to work. Powers added that Brigham’s nursing staff, which numbers 3,600, anticipates having more nurses tested as the COVID-19 pandemic continues and that there will “probably” be some who test positive.
Powers and Dr. Maddy Pearson, who serves as senior vice president of clinical services for Brigham Health, Brigham’s chief nursing officer, and the operations section chief for incident command, also detailed how the hospital is handling a potential shortage of personal protective equipment, or PPE.
Powers said nursing staff planned ahead, and many bought extra PPE at Home Depot or Lowe’s, and one Lowe’s store in New Hampshire donated some of these items. The staff is taking inventory of what they have and will report to the hospital.
“We’re hoping that we’re going to have enough, and we don’t know how long this is going to go on,” Powers said, adding that the staff is trusting hospital leaders, as well as state and national leaders, to make sure they have enough. “I don’t know if we will. I hope and pray that it doesn’t come to that, but I think that I would be lying if I had 100 percent confidence to say that we have enough to last through this process because honestly we don’t know how long it’s going to go.”
Pearson called the decisions on using PPE “a challenge.”
“We know that there is a shortage nationwide, worldwide,” she said. “We are like every other health care institution in the country. We are putting conservation measures in place. We’re very comfortable with them.”
The knowledge of when to use PPE, and which equipment to use based on a situation, comes from Brigham’s infection control providers, Pearson said.
“We can reuse masks in certain situations, and so you can wear a mask for the remainder of your shift as long as it’s not soiled or wet,” she said. “That’s another example of how we’re trying to conserve this resource.”
Powers said it comes down to deciding to reuse a mask now versus, if there eventually were to be a shortage, going without.
“It would be negligent not to conserve at this point,” she said. “We saw what happened in China, we see what’s happened in Italy, we look to New York and other places, and it just makes sense. This is unprecedented. … I’d rather wear a mask that maybe’s not soiled but still does the job than wear nothing. I’d rather have a reused mask.”
Considering what could happen if many nurses are quarantined or become sick with the virus, Pearson said Brigham’s nurses are flexible, and there are many who can be pulled from one area to work elsewhere.
“We have staff who are flexible, who are able to float,” she said. “We feel very comfortable with who we have right now.”
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<h2>What are the symptoms of coronavirus, and how is it treated?</h2>
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