'We will survive. We have to': a letter to my fellow healthcare workers
I feel powerless but also hopeful, and want to say thank you to all my hospital colleagues from consultants to cleaners
This is a terrible time to be working in a hospital. It may be the first time in years you are working in one again. People are asking for you in the middle of one of the worst periods in healthcare in the past 60 years. You have never seen patients so breathless, you have no idea what FIO2 0.6 15l" means or what a 35% Venturi" is, and you feel powerless.
I know how you feel. I am an intensive care anaesthetic doctor. I usually work in the peace of an operating theatre, dealing with one patient at a time. Most people think I play sudoku or do the crossword (which I do) and put smaller tubes in bigger tubes. I am usually behind the scenes to the surgeons. Now I am the person you call to review the sickest patients on the wards or in A&E. I am the person you ask for help and I feel powerless too.
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