Tag: #infectioncontrol

Wind of Change

The terms “pandemic”, “Shielding”, “self-isolation”, “lock-down” and others that became common in conversations have become rare in discussions. Lock downs are barely mentioned now, only as bad time from that awful year that was 2020 and the conspiracy theorist nut nuts have mostly fallen silent. For two and a half years I managed to avoid the dreaded Covid-19. Finally it caught up with me, and it wasn’t pretty.

The current strain (Omicron BA. 4/5 at time of writing) seems to be rampaging it’s way through the UK with varying effects. Most victims suffer flu-like symptoms, My experience was that I thought I was going to die….for about 24 hours. My head felt like someone had been poking knitting needles in it, my body ached, breathing was painful. The next day I had the same symptoms as most other people – just like flu. I did however, on day four, lose my sense of taste and smell.

The dreaded second line in the LFT stick appeared, and showed on every test for 10 days before being strangely, but happily absent on day 11. Still I felt fluey though.

It struck me how complacent we have become. Did we end restrictions too early? Were the majority even following the rules properly? Should there still be some form of mandatory infection management – face coverings in built up public places and events etc?

I had a trip away and a concert booked for the day after the first positive test. I toyed with the idea of still going, but my conscience wouldn’t let me go, knowing I might be the cause of someone else suffering the same as I had….or worse! A former colleague put it well – “Us oldies have morals”. At the time, I wasn’t sure that was a good thing but now, having had time to reflect, I’d not have felt right had I travelled on a crowded train then sat at a crowded concert knowing I had Covid. Also, I’m not sure I’d have coped physically as I was still feeling quite ill. A week after testing negative I’m still feeling wheezy and I tire quickly, and coffee (and everything else) still tastes strange or of nothing.

Why am I typing this? My experience seems to be a common one at the moment. There were almost quarter of a million recorded cases in the last month, who knows how many unrecorded? Most were very mild cases, but some weren’t. We will definitely need to get used to living with this virus in time but, perhaps for now (at least until we have it as under control as possible) we need better forms of management. It hasn’t gone away, it has actually mutated again and will continue to do so. The sensible among us are vaccinated and that is clearly helping, but maybe, just maybe it’s time for a rethink on how we view this, still ongoing, pandemic.

Sharing isn’t always caring.

It’s a paranoid world out there, and humans have a knack of surviving germs and bugs. But every year we’re offered flu jabs. If we go on holiday to certain countries we’re given vaccinations against all sorts of diseases. The illnesses and diseases can kill, but humanity has survived this far by building up its immunities to some of them. Unfortunately, these days there are “super bugs” – MRSA, Clostridioides difficile (aka C-Diff) and others. Sadly, these super bugs tend to be contracted in medical facilities such as hospitals, so the health organisations in this country have gone a bit mad in an attempt to try to eradicate the germs at the source. This resulted in cleaning programmes in hospital wards, operating theatres, ambulances, ambulance mess rooms…

Yes, mess rooms. Places where ambulance crews relax while they wait to be called out. Someone is employed to make sure these facilities are kept within strict guidelines for infection control set out by people in offices. Our messroom was a small room with three smaller rooms attached to it. One of these rooms had once been a shower room but was now used to store equipment we used on jobs, and our PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) kit bags. Since it had once been a shower room, the light was turned on by means of a pull string attached to a switch in the ceiling. During one random infection control check, our messroom was failed because this short length of string was deemed to be an infection hazard, because it clearly had an impact on the way we did our jobs on the road… The solution – slip some tubing that came with an oxygen mask over it. The next visit it passed.

Understandably, the ambulance was a prime consideration. We did a good job of keeping our ambulance clinically clean. There was still a paranoia within the offices of management. Early in my career, when I was based in the big city, a 999 call came over the tannoy and we were next to respond. I was driver on this occasion. We walked through the garage and climbed into our ambulance. As I started the engine we heard the side door of the vehicle ooen and an alarm sounded in the cabin, then it stopped as the door closed again. My partner and I looked at each other confused, we had no observers on shift that day (junior doctors and nurses often joined crews on shifts to see what we did back then). I turned off the engine, got out of the ambulance and went back to see who had randomly got into the back of the vehicle. On opening the door I saw an ambulance officer with 3 pips on his shoulder. I enquired as to his reason fo being in our ambulance unannounced. The officer (earning vastly more than either of us) explained that they were there to check the crews’ hand hygiene at jobs. I asked for some ID as security of the ambulance was my concern as driver. Arrogantly, they stated that we had a 999 to respond to. I took out my radio and sent a call back request to control. Very quickly the officer produced their identity card. I suggested, politely, that they identify themselves before stepping into ambulances, shut the door and drove to the job.

We later found out that the officer had retired but had then been called back solely for the purpose of checking crews’ hand hygiene, at their original wage. Those checks didn’t last long

We constantly had new procedures, changed procedures too many procedures, all aimed at infection control. We often joked that, after certain jobs, our uniforms, possibly the Ambulance too, would need to be burned. If we followed the procedures to the letter, patients would be left in cars in fields, upside down cars at RTCs, people in dirty houses, drunks lying in vomit. We’d not be allowed to treat them because they were all in unsterile environments.

Thankfully, crews on the road had common sense, and most rules were adapted to allow us to do our job properly.

The world is not a clinically clean place, but I’ve not heard any stories of anyone being infected as a result of pre-hospital care. Besides, ambulance crews don’t want to catch diseases from patients either!

Ambulance crews work hard to care for their patients. Sometimes the people in offices need to trust them to have common sense, and just let them do the job they do well.