Critical Care Medicine During COVID

[moonkid]

My mom is an ICU nurse, all the staff in her hospital got hazard pay EXCEPT the nurses. So like, HR, who was sitting at home during the pandemic, got hazard pay. My mother, who was working 16 hour shifts and slept in our garage because she was scared of infecting her family, did not. When the nurses were outraged and demanded pay, the hospital told them to write a letter saying why they should get hazard pay.

[davidpopolizio]

I'm an EMT and the "how do you feel about getting yelled at for saving people's lives" rungs very true

[DeepCurans]

As an ICU intensivist who saw through 8 months of Covid ICU, I can say that hospitals took utmost advantage of all their med staff...And rewarded us with peanuts for all our efforts...!

[Mtz]

When he said "how do you feel about getting yelled at for trying to save people's lives?"
That broke my heart. It might be a skit, but is brutally real.

[Tartar]

I'd say this was hilarious if it wasn't so infuriating.
Resiliency pizza (or any token effort to "thank" medical staff) is a real thing, and a slap in the face to everyone who has worked so hard the past 2 years.

[jackq.]

My wife was a critical care doctor and had to quit because of the sheer number of hours and the nastiness of the people she had to work with during the pandemic. What pushed her over the edge was seeing a patient that had COVID that screamed and berated her while coughing directly at the nurses and doctors. No one deserves this especially people that cared so much and sacrificed so much for the lives of strangers.

[remijager]

I can't wait for some psychiatrist to publish a study on the effects of pizza on resiliency. (I'm imagining it's just a piece of paper witha full title, list of 17 authors, abstract and the word "NO" circled several times.)

[Sela]

As a MD who has to avoid pizza due to gastritis problems, pizza is such a horrible way of rewarding anyone. Especially people who have to work long shifts due to the bad nutritional value and the fact it can really make you feel sleepy soon afterwards. And, ofc, apart from it being a shitty way of rewarding people for unpaid overtime.

[SAIFDNH]

I remember during my ICU rotation as an intern i experienced for the first time in my life the feeling of having a patient die while we were trying literally everything we could to keep them alive, but in the end they past away. It hit me like a truck, and messed me up for while. And since then i’ve had very high respect and appreciation for anyone that works in the ICU. ❤

[jamesb]

“Did the hospital do anything for you”

Truth: “yeah they mandated that we take a wellness module during our already impossibly busy shift”

[simonabgnsc]

ICU Nurse here: The "we're short staffed now so...." hits hard cause it's true...
I've cried more during these months than in my whole 30yrs before that...

[LinksBetweenDrinks]

I spent a month in the ICU. After being brought back to life!
You can hear other patients screaming and berating the staff.
I was super sweet and upbeat with with them, and I swear one of the nurses cried just because I told her "Thanks for saving my life, by the way!"
They got me a bouquet and gave it to me when I was discharged!

[morganr]

My mom is head of the entire SICU at the hospital near us, and my dad works in the OR as a perfusionist. Can confirm this is factual. I've never seen either of my parents so exhausted or stressed out about work. I can now tell just by their faces when they walk in the door if it's been a bad day. Like The day the 23 year old pregnant woman and her baby died. The countless days my dad came home distraught because the COVID patients he put on ECMO as a last ditch effort to save their lives didn't survive. All the days mom came home crying because she had to break the news to dozens of families that their loved ones had died, or soon would. The especially hard days when those patients were young people in their 20's who were perfectly healthy before getting COVID. The days she had to call campus security because the parents were completely hysterical, clinging onto the lifeless bodies of their children that just died, not wanting to accept their 20 something year old was dead. Having a 22 year old man collapse in her arms when she had to tell him his beautiful fiancé was not going to live through the night. Telling a husband his 26 year old wife and mother to their 4 children was dead. The list goes on and on and on... All of this while she tries to simultaneously figure out staffing, because there just are never enough nurses for most shifts. Either they quit, go somewhere with more pay, or they're out sick with COVID themselves. I've never been more proud of my parents and the absolutely gut wrenching things they have to do on a daily basis. Of course they've always had patients die, but never like this. Never so many in a single day. I truly don't know how they do it...

[paorini]

Im an IM resident and i just completed my ICU rotation. My mom came to visit me one day and when she asked how i was doing i started crying and couldn’t stop for like 20 min. I didn’t even notice how sad/emotionally drained i was.

[hannahhillier]

I lost my dad December 13th 2021 to COVID. The nurse that was looking over him was brand new & I felt so bad because when they took him off the ventilator she had to leave. Ill also appreciate all the nurses that held me when I collapsed in screaming/sobbing tears after they announced his time of death. Thank you to all the people in the medical field that take care of people every day. You are so strong & I can’t thank them enough for the hard work they did for my family & for making sure my dad passed peacefully. Please stay strong & remember to take care of yourselves too because you matter & are human too. 🖤

[wizhellrat]

As someone who works in housekeeping at hospital. This is so true. I been working there since it started. EvS is short staff but my heart goes out to the nurses and doctors. We all hanging on by a thread. Only thing that keeps us going is our love for helping our fellow human.

[Jane]

My friend was an ICU nurse, emphasis on WAS. He got really burned out a few months ago that he himself started to get sick, he had to quit for his own health and safety.

[mariar]

"Is the hospital doing anything to help you?" Funniest line ever

[nopity]

"How do you feel about getting yelled at for trying to save people's lives?" 😭 Huge thank you to all our medical practitioners around the world during these hard times.

[darcyjeanske]

As a nurse of 20 years, with 16 tears of ICU experience, this skit really hits home.