Yay! I am back full time as from Wednesday last week. I am so pumped. Feel ready for the massive changes ahead.
The hospital is closed and the wards emptied in readiness for the potential surge of COVID inpatients. Only way to get in, is through ED and they've divided the streams into dirty and clean. Dirty being COVID patients (both confirmed and suspected) and clean for other emergencies.
Our little department is supporting the Respiratory Ward (and possibly other Wards depending on how serious it gets). It has been decided, due to the amount of research and information pouring out of other countries who are seriously snowed under with patients presenting with COVID, that it's best to use CPAP machines as they deliver air pressure together with oxygen rather than ventilate which tends to damage otherwise healthy lungs. COVID appears to be more like an altitude sickness which CPAP is better able to help with.
I have been so humbled and thankful for the humanitarian way that the medical world has come together to sort out this dilemma. This is when the good people come to the fore, everyone sharing their observations, so that the rest of us can learn from them.
As it has been decided that we are NOT using ventilators but CPAP equipment (continuous positive airway pressure), this is where the Sleep Clinic team comes in as we are the experts with these machines. Sleep is a fantastic team. Despite me being on light duties of 18 hours per week, my 2IC being thrown in at the deep end, they have managed to get on with it - with me giving guidance from the sidelines if needed. The creative thought, willingness to adapt, be flexible, going above and beyond what is required, gladdens my heart. Gone are the downtrodden individuals, and in its place is a blossoming cohesive team coming up with incredible ideas to help the Wards cope with the potential influx of patients.
I couldn't be prouder - like a mum whose children have grown into amazing adults.
There are a few who are very very wary. We've adapted things so those who don't want to be frontline have the option of working from home. Luckily we have been changing over to remote monitoring machines since 2017. Those working from home can deal with our virtual clinics (approximately 25 patients per day, 5 days per week) and troubleshooting phone calls, keeping the clinic side of things ticking over. I've made sure everyone has a work mobile to use from home and are able to remotely log in to the hospital intranet. Thankfully we stopped using charts for our patients about 4 years ago, which is great so we're not scrambling/searching for patient's notes. Everything is contained on a Web Application.
I'm a little disappointed with the hospital hierarchy (management side). No support from them at all. Mostly it is the medical personnel helping each other out. Not seen hide nor hair of the many managers. Every time I applied for something that needed management approval such as laptops and mobiles to work from home, I was asked to give a good reason i.e. almost like a mini business case.
I by-passed them and went straight to our Clinical Director who has been very supportive despite being very busy herself. She is part of the hospital CIMS group making sure everything is in place. She signed off all the documentation needed and if there were any objections she dealt with them. I think many are realising that she is a mini powerhouse who takes no shit from anyone.
I also managed to get her to sign off the documentation so my 2IC could get paid for the 6 weeks of higher duties he did whilst I was mostly unavailable. I think the original documentation for both the laptops, mobiles and higher duties are still sitting on the Service Managers desk! Strangely enough (or not) he's not asked why I've not hounded him. Helps to be able to bypass the bureaucratic bullshit.
Of course, very few are aware of Sleep at the hospital. But we've been thrust into the limelight as we are setting up the equipment (which includes everything ready to go) needed for the Wards. There are very few medical staff who know or understand the PAP machines. Two staff members are going up onto the Wards to train and assist those on the frontline who will be using our equipment. A video has been made for the nurses to access, to understand how everything is put together, why, how to fit masks, what to replace and when. We've got laminated posters and information sheets with each piece of equipment (lol about the only thing I could do was laminate, so I am now the laminating queen!)
Again I am so proud of the staff, who have risen so well to the occasion, taking everything in their stride. I get a bit tearful when I see how far they've come. A big shout out and thank you to our Clinical Director for her amazing leadership, insight and foresight.
Not once has any of our managers asked me if there is anything they can do to make things easier.
It has also been a fight to get any equipment from our supplier. They put a credit hold on our account for one unpaid bill (which no-one told us about), despite us buying from them weekly for the last three years. Our orders normally arrive each Monday. After the second week, I queried it with our sales representative (the only one in NZ). Oh how she was given the run around by her company. The bullshit they fed this poor woman who was stuck between us, our demands and the unrelenting stance of the head office in Australia - a worldwide well known company (one of three making these machines).
This is when you see who is looking after themselves, not thinking of the greater good and holding desperate hospitals to ransom. Greed and manipulation at its peak.
They kept reassuring us that normal equipment was still available, that it was only the ventilators and non-invasive ventilators that were in demand worldwide and difficult to get hold of. And yet we were not getting our equipment supplies. Finally we found out about the credit hold which they'd omitted to tell both us and our finance department. This is when you realise how many of these companies hold the medical world to ransom and manipulating things, although it is beyond me as to why.
The bill was paid "chop chop" and yet we still did not receive our equipment despite being told that there was enough equipment available. I am not one to lose my temper often but this kind of manipulation really winds me up. A word or two in the right places and all 120 of the machines suddenly arrived without the non-vented masks. But that is okay as we've got a company here in NZ who are helping us out with non-vented masks and exhalation ports (as we don't want aerosolisation whilst the equipment is used), despite negative pressure rooms being used.
And so, here we are ready and waiting.
On another note - it is heartening to see the Deep State losing traction! The world is coming together in an unexpected way and there is nothing they can do.
This is the time of the Great Awakening. Power to the people!!
The hospital is closed and the wards emptied in readiness for the potential surge of COVID inpatients. Only way to get in, is through ED and they've divided the streams into dirty and clean. Dirty being COVID patients (both confirmed and suspected) and clean for other emergencies.
Our little department is supporting the Respiratory Ward (and possibly other Wards depending on how serious it gets). It has been decided, due to the amount of research and information pouring out of other countries who are seriously snowed under with patients presenting with COVID, that it's best to use CPAP machines as they deliver air pressure together with oxygen rather than ventilate which tends to damage otherwise healthy lungs. COVID appears to be more like an altitude sickness which CPAP is better able to help with.
I have been so humbled and thankful for the humanitarian way that the medical world has come together to sort out this dilemma. This is when the good people come to the fore, everyone sharing their observations, so that the rest of us can learn from them.
As it has been decided that we are NOT using ventilators but CPAP equipment (continuous positive airway pressure), this is where the Sleep Clinic team comes in as we are the experts with these machines. Sleep is a fantastic team. Despite me being on light duties of 18 hours per week, my 2IC being thrown in at the deep end, they have managed to get on with it - with me giving guidance from the sidelines if needed. The creative thought, willingness to adapt, be flexible, going above and beyond what is required, gladdens my heart. Gone are the downtrodden individuals, and in its place is a blossoming cohesive team coming up with incredible ideas to help the Wards cope with the potential influx of patients.
I couldn't be prouder - like a mum whose children have grown into amazing adults.
There are a few who are very very wary. We've adapted things so those who don't want to be frontline have the option of working from home. Luckily we have been changing over to remote monitoring machines since 2017. Those working from home can deal with our virtual clinics (approximately 25 patients per day, 5 days per week) and troubleshooting phone calls, keeping the clinic side of things ticking over. I've made sure everyone has a work mobile to use from home and are able to remotely log in to the hospital intranet. Thankfully we stopped using charts for our patients about 4 years ago, which is great so we're not scrambling/searching for patient's notes. Everything is contained on a Web Application.
I'm a little disappointed with the hospital hierarchy (management side). No support from them at all. Mostly it is the medical personnel helping each other out. Not seen hide nor hair of the many managers. Every time I applied for something that needed management approval such as laptops and mobiles to work from home, I was asked to give a good reason i.e. almost like a mini business case.
I by-passed them and went straight to our Clinical Director who has been very supportive despite being very busy herself. She is part of the hospital CIMS group making sure everything is in place. She signed off all the documentation needed and if there were any objections she dealt with them. I think many are realising that she is a mini powerhouse who takes no shit from anyone.
I also managed to get her to sign off the documentation so my 2IC could get paid for the 6 weeks of higher duties he did whilst I was mostly unavailable. I think the original documentation for both the laptops, mobiles and higher duties are still sitting on the Service Managers desk! Strangely enough (or not) he's not asked why I've not hounded him. Helps to be able to bypass the bureaucratic bullshit.
Of course, very few are aware of Sleep at the hospital. But we've been thrust into the limelight as we are setting up the equipment (which includes everything ready to go) needed for the Wards. There are very few medical staff who know or understand the PAP machines. Two staff members are going up onto the Wards to train and assist those on the frontline who will be using our equipment. A video has been made for the nurses to access, to understand how everything is put together, why, how to fit masks, what to replace and when. We've got laminated posters and information sheets with each piece of equipment (lol about the only thing I could do was laminate, so I am now the laminating queen!)
Again I am so proud of the staff, who have risen so well to the occasion, taking everything in their stride. I get a bit tearful when I see how far they've come. A big shout out and thank you to our Clinical Director for her amazing leadership, insight and foresight.
Not once has any of our managers asked me if there is anything they can do to make things easier.
It has also been a fight to get any equipment from our supplier. They put a credit hold on our account for one unpaid bill (which no-one told us about), despite us buying from them weekly for the last three years. Our orders normally arrive each Monday. After the second week, I queried it with our sales representative (the only one in NZ). Oh how she was given the run around by her company. The bullshit they fed this poor woman who was stuck between us, our demands and the unrelenting stance of the head office in Australia - a worldwide well known company (one of three making these machines).
This is when you see who is looking after themselves, not thinking of the greater good and holding desperate hospitals to ransom. Greed and manipulation at its peak.
They kept reassuring us that normal equipment was still available, that it was only the ventilators and non-invasive ventilators that were in demand worldwide and difficult to get hold of. And yet we were not getting our equipment supplies. Finally we found out about the credit hold which they'd omitted to tell both us and our finance department. This is when you realise how many of these companies hold the medical world to ransom and manipulating things, although it is beyond me as to why.
The bill was paid "chop chop" and yet we still did not receive our equipment despite being told that there was enough equipment available. I am not one to lose my temper often but this kind of manipulation really winds me up. A word or two in the right places and all 120 of the machines suddenly arrived without the non-vented masks. But that is okay as we've got a company here in NZ who are helping us out with non-vented masks and exhalation ports (as we don't want aerosolisation whilst the equipment is used), despite negative pressure rooms being used.
And so, here we are ready and waiting.
On another note - it is heartening to see the Deep State losing traction! The world is coming together in an unexpected way and there is nothing they can do.
This is the time of the Great Awakening. Power to the people!!
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