#medtwitter and everyone. Pls read this thread. I want ppl to know what those in #nursinghomes and #PALTC med are doing, without the recognition. For every person u save from #COVID inpatient, please know, we& #39;re working non-stop to help you, and it& #39;s taking its toll. 1/
As early as 3/1 we& #39;ve shut down visitors, tried to mitigate spread. But we& #39;re not the hospital and have less resources. And hospitals rely on us to d/c patients who can& #39;t go home. We& #39;re taking your pts, knowing full well they may bee carriers of #COVID but testing was not done.2/
Simultaneously we& #39;ve been forcing the hard conversations, trying to get patients/surrogates to understand the futility in #fullcode status + even hospitalization right now. Meanwhile families have not been allowed to visit in 4 wks +. Despite r efforts, #COVID is in our own 3/
Many of us have not had accessible and proper testing. We & #39;re treating ppl as if it& #39;s real and present but can& #39;t know. We& #39;re triaging/isolating anyone w/ symptoms. And we& #39;re palliating EVERYONE we can, in house, who is pre-active or actively dying from anything, covid or not 4/
We (our team including all healthcare workers) r often forgotten, blamed, scapegoated now as we were bf because we& #39;re not in the bizz of "saving" lifes per se. We& #39;re in the medicine of reality, mortality and #EndOfLife before a palliative med c/s was available. We r #frontline
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But we& #39;re hidden. Bc we have and continue to deal with the forgotten, hard, and difficult business of the reality of life. Aging, dementia, debility, dependence and #mortality. We r paid less to deal with hard stuff. I want ppl to know. Every vent available may be bc we 6/
In the Geri/nursing home/EOL realm had the tough talk with families/patients, went out of our way to (often unpaid) ensure r patients had what they needed to die with dignity, in the nursing home w/ palliative measures. W r still taking your fast discharges from hospital 7/
We r taking the rapid d/c for inpatient appropriate patients in stride, knowing hospitals need this, but also w/o the same level of resources, staff and compensation to care for them. We do this bc, as ppl who #care for the least, it& #39;s what we do. But it& #39;s about time all of us 8/
#nurses #CNA #custodial staff #food services, #physicians and #APP #providers , #medicaldirectors and yes, the good #administration (there r some) who serve in the #nursinghomes get the recognition for what we& #39;re doing, w/ less #PPE and frequent death, to serve us all. #thankyou