"ICU doctors, nurses demoralized over ‘needless’ COVID-19 misery"
The Los Angeles Times interviewed Dr. Robert Kim-Farley about the impact of treating pandemic patients on doctors and nurses.
COLTON — Nine patients awaited their fate in an intensive care unit at the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.
The youngest was 26, the oldest 66. Four of them had already been intubated, a last-ditch effort to save their lives. Inside fourth-floor rooms bare of decor, they lay alone in the dark, flat on their belly and sedated because the pain of the tube running down their throat would be too great otherwise.
The number of COVID-19 patients in the unit on Wednesday morning was about double that of a couple of weeks ago. But this was a different kind of surge from last winter, when the hospital saw well over 100 COVID patients at its peak and had to create a makeshift ICU out of the post-anesthesia care unit.
Faculty Referenced by this Article
Robert J. Kim-Farley, MD, MPH, is a Professor-in-Residence with joint appointments in the Departments of Epidemiology and Community Health Sciences
Assistant Dean for Research & Adjunct Associate Professor of Community Health Sciences
Professor of Community Health Sciences & Health Policy and Management, and Associate Dean for Research
Director of Field Studies and Applied Professional Training
Dr. Joseph Davey is an infectious disease epidemiologist with over 20 years' experience leading research on HIV/STI services for women and children.
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