DM Monitoring
HEFEI: Yang Yun, 40, has been in close contact with patients who have the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) for six hours – longer than her sleeping time – on most days for almost two months.
Yang is an intensive care unit (ICU) doctor at the Infectious Diseases Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of the University of Science and Technology of China, a designated institution treating COVID-19 in Hefei, capital of east China’s Anhui Province.
Yang enters the ICU wards at 8 a.m. and leaves at 2 p.m. to participate in a series of online and offline discussions of treatments with other experts.
She works late and often goes to bed at 1 a.m., with little time to eat.
Since patients in ICU wards are critically ill, Yang and her colleagues apply the highest-level protection. Before entering the wards, they spend at least 20 minutes donning heavy protective suits, shoe covers, gloves, masks, goggles and a face shield.
“To the patients, we probably look like monsters,” one of Yang’s colleagues joked.
The medical personnel on the frontline against the virus have the highest risk of exposure to infection. One of their daily tasks is swabbing patients’ throats for testing.
Despite intensive training and long experience, Yang and her colleagues were still scared at the beginning of the outbreak, especially after hearing of the deaths of medical staff in the worst-hit Wuhan. Yang, a small woman, showed great courage. As ICU director, she always took the lead in entering the wards and talking with patients.
Most patients had difficulty breathing and could not move as they were attached to needles and machines. Yang often put her face close to their ears and spoke louder so they could hear her.
“I try to raise their morale,” said Yang. “I tell them that many patients have recovered and help them believe they can recover too.”
