‘It was a war and our responsibility was big’
Two of the most important aspects of Covid-19 management are diagnostics and screening of patients. Lung CT scan, X-rays and other screening tests are key to estimating the extent of lung damage or impact of the cytokine storm (A severe immune reaction in which the body releases too many cytokines into the blood too quickly) in a patient.
Frontline technicians at diagnostics departments were putting in long hours at work to manage patient screenings when the pandemic was at its peak. Kaltham Abdelwahid Nour, radiology technician at
Dubai’s Rashid Hospital, said all technicians at work were worried about the danger of getting exposed to the virus as they were dealing with the screening of so many patients on a daily basis.
‘We were fearful’
“We had the twin responsibility of taking care of the patients as well as keeping ourselves and our colleagues protected. Our fear was completely normal, given the way the pandemic was raging all over the world. So, apart from receiving an overwhelming number of patients and delivering diagnostic services to them, we, as frontline workers, had the added responsibility of educating ourselves on the virus.”
Nour said it was indeed challenging to fight an invisible enemy.
“We were not sure who or what was the real threat. We had to take charge of protecting ourselves as the first line of health-care professionals who were in touch with Covid-19 patients. We knew it was a war and our responsibility was big. So, we made an elaborate plan. We developed and managed multiple task forces related to workflow management and related to the services delivered to patients.”
Nurse recounts challenges
Nurses are at the heart of health care systems. Since they constitute a majority of the care providers in any health system, they were on the frontline when Covid-19 rampaged around the world.
Aodh Mathew Campos Heule, a male nurse from the Emergency Department at Rashid Hospital, Dubai, said the fear of contracting the disease didn’t prevent nurses from doing their duty. “The fear of being infected and the risk of turning into patients ourselves has always been there. However, we dealt with it with a strong mind and by taking precautions. We never let this fear come in the way of our service. We continued to offer care to every patient,” he said. According to Heule, the key to winning the COVID-19 battle in Dubai was efficient administration and teamwork at the Rashid Hospital. “Patient management was very important to us. To win this battle, we needed the help of the UAE government, the administration and the emergency department at Rashid Hospital and other UAE hospitals as well,” he said.
Actions taken
“Following the directives from health authorities, Rashid Hospital made structural and management changes to adapt to the situation. We converted psychiatric units into isolation rooms; some wards were transformed into Intensive Care Units (ICU). In the Emergency Department, under the leadership of Dr Sarah Kazim, we constructed isolation and Intensive Care Resuscitation area for patients who required immediate nursing and medical management,” Heule added.
The International Hospital Federation commended Rashid Hospital’s efforts in tackling the Covid challenges. The facility was the first in the UAE and the GCC to ramp up measures to anticipate an influx of Covid patients. The Emergency Department, which had 68 beds, increased the capacity by nearly three times to 158, besides setting up 131 new intensive care beds.