six health workers, in full safety garb, working
in slow synchrony to avoid dislodging his
breathing tube.
Italy’s Alessandro Manzoni Hospital set a
schedule: Start turning patients onto their bellies
at 2 p.m. -- it took more than three hours to work
through them all -- and then put them on their
backs again at 8 a.m., when fresh nurses arrived.
Hospitals that specialize in treating ARDS knew
how to prone before COVID-19 hit. For many
others, it was a brand-new skill their workers had
to learn. Fast.
“We’ve never had to prone anyone here before
the pandemic, but now it’s like second nature,”
Kevin Cole, a respiratory therapist at Fort
Washington Medical Center in Maryland, said
four months into the U.S. outbreak.
And some hospitals now are asking patients not
yet on ventilators to simply roll over periodically,
in hopes it might prevent them from needing
more invasive care.
“What have we got to lose? That’s something
that’s not going to hurt anybody,” Osborn said.
Even in normal times, critical-care specialists
know they can’t save all their patients. But
they’re used to more hand-holding. With this
virus, even garbed in spacesuit-like protective
gear, health workers must minimize time
with infectious patients to avoid getting sick
themselves. And family members are largely
barred, too.
“My general way of doing things is, no one
dies alone,” said Osborn, who holds her phone
in front of dying patients so loved ones can
say goodbye.Image: Morgan Lee