Physiotherapist not risking your life? After all, he was the first Polish victim of the coronavirus among the medical professions [LETTER TO MEDTvoiLokony]

Our editorial office received a letter written by a physiotherapist. “My text illustrates the situation of medical personnel burdened with additional duties, often exceeding the standard framework of our profession, with minimum national salaries” – he writes. It also explains how the work of physiotherapists during a pandemic looks like in practice. Many of them are still actively carrying out their duties, often at the risk of their health and life.

1. There is a group of physiotherapy professionals who continue to provide services to patients. They work in hospital wards, nursing homes and institutions that provide long-term care, as well as in palliative care units – our reader writes
2. He also describes the dramatic staffing situation in such wards, explaining that often one physiotherapist looks after several dozen patients
3. For patients in many departments, the lack of rehabilitation for a few days means the development of pressure ulcers or pneumonia as a result of prolonged lying down.
4. «Some people might say that a physiotherapist does not put his or her life at risk like a doctor or a nurse. However, the first Polish health care worker to die as a result of COVID-19 infection was a representative of this profession – he adds.

There is probably no bigger crisis the modern world has had to contend with than the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. It affects all spheres of everyday life. Restrictions at work, an increase in unemployment, difficulties in moving and rest contribute to an increase in the level of stress experienced by all, which is still high and additionally fueled by the media reporting on new cases of infections and deaths. Each of us, through isolation and personal protection measures, tries to prevent the escalation of the epidemic in our country. […]

Since the first case of COVID-19 infection appeared in Poland, the whole country has been waiting for restrictions introduced by the government, following the example of other countries. Healthcare also waited for the authorities to take steps to protect hospital workers from possible infections from sick patients. On March 31, the Ministry of Health issued an ordinance in which, in order to curb the spread of the epidemic, it suspended the work of many areas of the economy, including almost all physiotherapy activities in the country. The work of clinics, private clinics and those contracting treatments with the National Health Fund has practically been completely stopped.

Discontinuation of rehabilitation? You get pressure ulcers or pneumonia immediately

However, there is a group of physiotherapy professionals who continue to provide services to patients. They work in hospital wards, nursing homes and institutions that provide long-term care. They cooperate with doctors, nurses, psychologists and other representatives of the medical profession as well as employees of institutions, helping and often supporting patients in their last moments, as is the case in palliative care units, at this difficult time when everyone can be a threat to everyone. infection.

In the flood of information about coronavirus infections, it is easy to forget about other patients who require comprehensive treatment, such as oncological, cardiological or neurological patients.

Every year in Poland, up to 80 thousand. people have a stroke, which gives one person approximately every eight minutes. These are patients who require immediate treatment and rehabilitation, because only then can they return to fitness in their lives. There are patients in palliative care units who require daily procedures in order to maintain their quality of life and sometimes even improve it.

In cardiology departments there are patients after diseases or after surgery in cardiosurgical departments, for whom the support of a physiotherapist is necessary in returning to life, at least in part resembling that before hospitalization. Dozens of physiotherapists try to help them recover as much as possible every day. If the procedures are discontinued, the condition of patients may deteriorate very quickly, with the formation of pressure ulcers or the occurrence of pneumonia unrelated to COVID-19 as a result of prolonged stay in a hospital bed.

1. Read: Rehabilitation returns from May 4. Recommendations for physiotherapists and patients

One physiotherapist per ward is a luxury today

During an epidemic, many physiotherapists, as well as other hospital employees, perform their duties beyond their strength, trying to ensure that the patients who require their help do not suffer from staff shortages. Many of their colleagues, bearing in mind their own safety and that of their relatives, went on holidays, sick leave or “care” in order not to put anyone at risk of falling ill.

There is a situation where a three-storey building is looked after by only two physiotherapists, and each floor has about 40 patients. In such a situation, a physiotherapist assigned to a specific ward becomes a luxury.

Morning temperature measurements, dictated by the responsibility for the health of patients, who only the staff can infect, additionally increases the level of stress. In such conditions, the shortages in the availability of personal protective equipment, which we have recently observed, especially on the Internet in the form of collections for the purchase of such basic items as disinfecting gels, gloves and masks, and the difficulty in accessing the above-mentioned ones, do not make work easier.

All the time in the back of the mind, every hospital worker is asking himself this important question: “Am I not infected? Will I not contribute to the death of a patient from COVID-19? ».

Many of them, apart from performing their duties, are burdened with additional, for example, psychological help for patients in the case of the lack of availability of a sufficient number of psychologists. They are asked for help in distributing meals, and in extreme cases – to stay on night duty in order to strengthen the staff with their person and enable the ward to function as normal as possible.

1. Read: Physiotherapists outraged by the government’s decision. »Please do not confuse us with massage parlors»

Only for the phone call with my family

Another aspect of the burden that affects both healthcare professionals and patients in the current situation is the isolation that healthcare facilities currently find themselves in. Patients often feel abandoned by their relatives with whom they can only have contact by phone. They are often elderly people for whom the operation of electronic devices is difficult, and sometimes even impossible. Unfortunately, it happens more and more often that the relatives of such people provide them with smartphones not specially adapted for them, but with smartphones, which significantly impede their contact due to the complicated handling.

Such patients lack closeness, a sense of family warmth, they feel rejected and forgotten by their relatives, and the only people they see during the day are medical staff, approaching them in masks, gloves, and often in aprons and, despite their best efforts, staff, especially those looking in such a terrible way, are not able to replace their loved ones. Additionally, such outfit of employees stresses the patients.

When it is forbidden to move to other wards, patients spend most of their time with their physiotherapist and, if available, with a psychologist. However, they are only employees, staff who cannot devote all their time to them. Their often very difficult moments, often the last ones, they cannot spend with family members or friends, but in solitude, surrounded by the hum of medical equipment. One can only imagine how difficult times are the patients, left in the care of already overworked medical staff.

Even commuting becomes a problem

The patients themselves who suffer from coronavirus infection, according to the recommendations of the National Chamber of Physiotherapists, require guidance by a physiotherapist as part of comprehensive treatment of their disease. Hospitalized patients will require, inter alia, work to increase the effectiveness of gas exchange in the lungs, exercises, procedures to support the removal of secretions present there and remaining, and gradual work on their activity in order to increase it. Such a procedure is aimed at reducing the risks associated with prolonged immobilization of the patient in bed, such as respiratory failure, progressive disability associated with prolonged immobilization, and even depression.

The commuting itself is becoming a growing problem for staff. Many city and suburban bus lines that transport hospital workers are cut short due to the costs incurred by cities and a heavy burden on their budgets. The number of seats available in public transport is reduced to half the number of seats, and private carriers, who often transported personnel from distant towns, close their connections due to a significant drop in their profitability, which, firstly, hinders comfortable commuting, and secondly, additionally increases the risk of infection, for example through the risk of waiting at a stop with an increased number of people.

1. Read: 50 physiotherapists out of work because of the epidemic. 2 million patients queued

For many, a representative of the medical profession = carrier

Increasingly, you hear about great campaigns to support medics across the country in everyday situations, such as free lunches for paramedics, the ability to shop without queuing or renting an apartment at a lower rent price or completely free when assigned by the voivode to help in facilities away from their place of residence or decide to live separately to minimize the risk of infection of their relatives with the virus.

However, such actions also have their other, not very pleasant side. In these times, health professionals are also increasingly confronted with the growing reluctance of the public for believing them to be infected with the virus or its vectors. More and more often, one can encounter a situation of refusal to serve in a store or the open hostility of other buyers only due to the fact of belonging to the medical profession.

Some people might say that a physical therapist does not put his or her life in danger, at least not as much as a doctor or a nurse. The fact is, however, that the first Polish health care worker to die as a result of the COVID-19 infection caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, according to the National Chamber of Physiotherapists, was a representative of this profession, working every day in the Radom hospital.

The tragedy of this employee and his relatives should make us all realize what a difficult situation we are dealing with. Once again, the dramatic shortage of personal protective equipment for personnel must be emphasized. The number of masks, visors, gloves and disposable gowns can be frighteningly low, which is often caused by the unavailability of the above in wholesalers. All materials first go to single-name hospitals, which means that other facilities have an additional problem with supplies. It should be remembered that anyone can be the next victim of this virus or its carrier, including medical staff who are applauded from their balconies and say that they are heroically on the front lines.

***

About the author: Dawid Laszczak is a master of physiotherapy, a graduate of Collegium Medicum of the Jagiellonian University and the Academy of Physical Education in Krakow.

Read also:

1. “He is in great shape and will be leaving hospital soon.” Prof. Tomasiewicz about the first COVID-19 patient who received plasma
2. Countries that deal with the coronavirus. Where is the epidemic under control?
3. What have they done in Australia to contain the epidemic?

Have a question about the coronavirus? Send them to the following address: [email protected]. You will find a daily updated list of answers HERE: Coronavirus – frequently asked questions and answers.