COVID Nursing...Ask Me Anything

[BogeyNoMore]

Halcon's post just goes to show that healthcare workers are our military in the war against the virus. Main difference being:

When people join the military, they know there's a significant chance of serious injury and even death. That's not something that's really front and center when people pursue an education and career in the medical profession.

 

[esdubya]

More questions..

How long is your shift and how many hours a week are you working?

Would you be able to describe the process of taking your lunch break? What all is involved from going from the patient care dirty area all the way to being able to take that 1st bite of your lunch?

Also yea, it's really great for you to start this thread.. So much appreciation !

 

[ShopTom.com]

What level mask is required to be effective? Can I just tie an old cotton tee shirt around my face to get groceries?

 

[riltim]

How difficult is it to walk with balls that big? Seriously, my hat's off to you. A much braver man than I.

 

[The Shide]

Thanks buddy for all you are doing. Hopefully all is cleared up in time for us to hit Toboggan this year. Please stay safe.

 

[Monocacy]

What level mask is required to be effective? Can I just tie an old cotton tee shirt around my face to get groceries?

Depends what you are trying to accomplish.

To protect the person wearing the mask from germs, you need a tight-fitting respirator with the proper filter (N-95 or HEPA filter). Such respirators have a "protection factor" of 10 (meaning that the wearer can be exposed to 10x the occupational exposure limit).

Right now there are not enough N-95 masks for hospital staff and first responders. If you have any N-95s sitting around, please consider donating them to folks who need them.

Surgical masks are designed to protect the patient, not the person wearing the mask. The "protection factor" for a surgical mask is zero. Cloth masks (bandanas, teeshirts, etc.) are similar to surgical masks - the goal is to protect people around you, not to protect you.

The CDC recommends wearing a cloth mask in public if you cannot maintain proper distancing (grocery store, pharmacy, etc.), and to keep people who do not know they have the virus from transmitting it to others.

CDC instructions if you want to make your own cloth face covering (clicky)

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Monoacay's full of full of good posts and great info, that he actually backs up with legit references! :hfive:

Surgical masks are designed to protect the patient, not the person wearing the mask. The "protection factor" for a surgical mask is zero. Cloth masks (bandanas, teeshirts, etc.) are similar to surgical masks - the goal is to protect people around you, not to protect you.

^ This is what most people don't understand. The mask is to capture/limit contaminants from your exhalations, particularly should you cough or sneeze.

The CDC recommends wearing a cloth mask in public if you cannot maintain proper distancing (grocery store, pharmacy, etc.), and to keep people who do not know they have the virus from transmitting it to others.

CDC instructions if you want to make your own cloth face covering (clicky)

 

[ballgolfconvert]

Monoacay's full of full of good posts and great info, that he actually backs up with legit references! :hfive: ^ This is what most people don't understand. The mask is to capture/limit contaminants from your exhalations, particularly should you cough or sneeze.

If cloth masks don't protect you from positives, then how can they protect others if you are positive? If cloth masks catch your emissions, then why do they not block others emissions.
I have been wearing a cloth mask when I go out. Your post basically tells me I am wasting my time. Could you clarify?

 

[DavidSauls]

If cloth masks don't protect you from positives, then how can they protect others if you are positive? If cloth masks catch your emissions, then why do they not block others emissions.
I have been wearing a cloth mask when I go out. Your post basically tells me I am wasting my time. Could you clarify?

Masks keep each person's respiratory droplets with that person.

If I'm sick, I keep my viruses with me. They don't float through the air to someone else, don't land on surfaces, etc.

If you're sick, my mask doesn't help me---your mask helps me, because you keep your viruses to yourself, instead of places where they could get on my skin, and eventually onto my face.

 

[pearlybakerbest]

If cloth masks don't protect you from positives, then how can they protect others if you are positive? If cloth masks catch your emissions, then why do they not block others emissions.
I have been wearing a cloth mask when I go out. Your post basically tells me I am wasting my time. Could you clarify?

Aerosol droplets can get through the edges of your mask if they are already in the air. If everyone is wearing a mask the chances of droplets getting airborn becomes much lower. Sure some droplets will probably make it out if an infected person coughs or sneezes with a mask on, but far and away a lower viral load will be available for aerosol transmission.

 

[R-Ogre]

I don't have any questions but just want to say thanks for your service. I fly medical patients and we are gearing up for if it hits us here. Fortunately we have access to an isopod which should help quite a bit.

 

[Monocacy]

DavidSauls and pearlybakerbest already answered, and I agree with what they said. To expound a bit:

If cloth masks don't protect you from positives, then how can they protect others if you are positive? If cloth masks catch your emissions, then why do they not block others emissions.

To protect the wearer, a mask needs to fit tightly around the face like an N95 mask or a half-face or full-face respirator. To protect others, a loose-fitting mask (surgical mask or cotton face covering) is thought to intercept at least some of the larger respiratory droplets expelled when you cough, sneeze, or talk. Is it perfect protection? No. But if a tee-shirt over your mouth and nose catches some of the goobers, it reduces how much virus others might inhale.

But just to be clear - if you know or suspect you have COVID-19, you should stay home in quarantine.

I have been wearing a cloth mask when I go out. Your post basically tells me I am wasting my time. Could you clarify?

If your only goal is to protect yourself, it is not clear yet whether or not you are wasting your time. We do not yet know whether SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted via droplets (which a cloth mask might help with) or via short-range aerosols (where a cloth mask is probably less effective). But a cloth mask is probably better than nothing.

If your goal is to protect others, a cloth face mask is thought to be moderately effective if you are infected but asymptomatic. Current guidance is that people may be infectious for 24-48 hours before showing symptoms.

 

[ru4por]

So you have to determine your odds of recovery. Where are you setting (and what do you recommend as) a method of determining where a nurse should set their go/no go point? And where do you go to for a trusted data source?

Pretty tough question. I have little in the way of underlying health issues, so I hope my chances of recovery are pretty good. But, I have seen healthy young people succumb to the virus. Some of what I have heard and read it that a "hyper overreaction" of the immune system in some people cause major problems. There is no predicting how your immune system will react to the virus. So...I don't know is really the answer to your first question.

I was going to go help, pretty much regardless of the odds. Honestly, since I have gone back to nursing, I don't really look at numbers or news. I do read up on some nursing practice information, but only as I need to.

 

[ru4por]

More questions..

How long is your shift and how many hours a week are you working?

Would you be able to describe the process of taking your lunch break? What all is involved from going from the patient care dirty area all the way to being able to take that 1st bite of your lunch?

Also yea, it's really great for you to start this thread.. So much appreciation !

I am working 4 12 hours shifts a week. The floor I am working on is very appreciative and I have been able to set my own hours. Big advantage to limit my time to only two days in a row. I ain't no spring chicken and nursing is a pretty physical challenge.

The floor I work on has "dirty" and "clean" area. The nurses station is between two halls of patient rooms. There are closed fire doors separating the halls from the nurses station. Donning and duffing of PPE (gown, gloves, mask, faceshield, booties) is done in the dirty side, then clean up just inside the clean area. Mask and faceshield removal. The faceshield is cleaned by us and put into a brown paper bag and reused, until it breaks. We wear non N95 masks in the clean area. Lunch is an extra scrub down. It probably sounds pretty quick and simple, but a LOT of care goes into how we handle the entire process and scrubbing up.

 

[ru4por]

What level mask is required to be effective? Can I just tie an old cotton tee shirt around my face to get groceries?

Effective is a subjective term. There are full face respirators that are 99%+ effective in filtering out virus sized particulate. We wear a N95 mask during patient care (95% filtering). A mask while you go out, is far more about protecting others from you, than protecting you from others. Touch as little as you can, practice physical distancing and wash your hands. Those things will do more to protect you than a mask. I wear a pretty simple cotton mask, if I have to go grocery shopping. Some real nice ones made by the nurses at work.

There are some nice DIY mask ideas on the Google.

 

[jakebake91]

I am a 56 y/o nurse, now working on a Medical/Surgical floor at a local Metro Detroit hospital. My hospital is 100% COVID positive, by design. We are importing COVID patients from the other 7 hospitals in my system as well as many area systems, as well.

I thought I could avail myself, if anyone had questions on how the hospitals work in this kind of crisis. Please don't trash me, if you are not interested, you don't have to read or participate. In the ever changing craziness, I thought people might be curious at to what is happening inside the protected walls of medical facilities.

Talking about it also is pretty good for me. With golf out of the question, I have fewer coping mechanisms. *Self serving disclaimer.

There may be stuff I am not able to answer, I will be upfront about what I do not know, and things that would be inappropriate for me to discuss.

Lastly, if you know or know of anyone working in hospitals...try to support them. I am here to tell you they need it. The nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists, unit clerks, nursing assistants, housekeepers, security, .....ARE putting their lives on the line.

Just going to chime in and thank you and all those like you for doing what you do. We would be in a world of s@#$ without you. The covid crisis hasnt really reached my area too badly yet. My wife works as a medical assistant in a family medicine dept. and luckily with the precautions put in place, her clinic is remaining "clean". But if things go sideways up here, she will be among the first to be sent to the hospital to help out. Praying it doesn't come to that....

I'm not much of one at all for prayers, but my thoughts and prayers are with you and all those on the front lines of this. We owe you all!!

 

[BogeyNoMore]

If cloth masks don't protect you from positives, then how can they protect others if you are positive? If cloth masks catch your emissions, then why do they not block others emissions.
I have been wearing a cloth mask when I go out. Your post basically tells me I am wasting my time. Could you clarify?

You want protection?
Stay at home. Don't expose yourself to others. The less interaction you have with people and commonly touched objects, the more protected you are.

Wash your hands frequently, especially before leaving the house, and when you return. Avoid touching your face.

Ain't no mask gonna protect you better than that.

 

[DavidSauls]

The time may come when your own mask protects your own health---from somebody hitting you with a 2x4, for being in public unmasked.

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

I have a non health-related question I've wanted to know for a long time, ru4por. How do you pronounce your screen name? Is it "ROO for poor" or "Are you four P-O-R" or something else? Not trying to diminish the august nature of this thread, just genuinely curious, and again, thank you for your service, especially in that Detroit hot spot. Looking forward to the day we can all hook up and throw our Holy Frisbees together.

(My brain says "roo for poor" whenever I see it for no particular reason.)

 

[BigFlickLuke]

The time may come when your own mask protects your own health---from somebody hitting you with a 2x4, for being in public unmasked.

Yeah, anyone attempting to get close enough with a two by four is going catch a few pieces of lead.