While the medical system is in a critical situation due to the spread of the new coronavirus infection, a university hospital that accepts many seriously ill patients in Tokyo closes a part of the general ward and supports nurses etc. in the new corona ward. The response is continuing to the last minute.
Itabashi Hospital attached to Nihon University School of Medicine in Itabashi-ku, Tokyo is one of the hospitals that accepts the largest number of critically ill patients in Tokyo. We secure a floor and mainly treat severely ill and moderately ill patients.
Due to the shortage of medical staff such as nurses due to the rapid increase in patients requiring hospitalization, and the number of inpatients with more severe symptoms has increased since the beginning of this month, the number of patients that can be accepted has reached the limit. It means that there is.
As a result, the hospital has closed some inpatient wards for urology and orthopedics, and increased the number of nurses in the new Corona ward from 57 to 88, about 1.5 times the previous number.
Of these, 19 nurses were assigned and training was held on the 16th.
In the training, at the morning meeting, the director of the nursing department said, "I want all the nurses to do what they should do and overcome this situation. I called out.
Then, in order to prevent the new corona from becoming more severe, how to use a medical device called "Nasal High Flow" that administers a large amount of oxygen from the nose, how to attach a cover to prevent the spread of the virus on the stretcher for transportation, and protective clothing I checked the attachment and detachment of the mask one by one.
After that, we entered an area called the "Red Zone" where the patient's room was located, and training on the actual response was conducted.
Masahiro Inagi, a newly assigned person who became a nurse in April, said, "When you actually enter the red zone, there are many patients with severe symptoms, and there are many medical devices, so it is a normal hospital room. The environment was completely different. I feel harsh and anxious when I think that I will work here for a day tomorrow, but if the whole of Japan is having a hard time in Corona, if I can help even a little. I want to do my best with that in mind. "
The number of patients with severe symptoms increased this month
According to Itabashi Hospital, Nihon University School of Medicine, the number of inpatients has increased sharply since the 5th wave, and especially since the beginning of this month, the number of patients with severe symptoms has increased.
According to the hospital, among the patients admitted to the new Corona ward, those who cannot walk on their own due to poor breathing conditions and need a wheelchair, etc. are out of 26 inpatients as of the 26th of last month. It was 9 people and 35% of the total.
However, as of the 16th, 27 out of 39 inpatients were unable to walk on their own, or 69% of the total, almost doubling.
For this reason, this hospital needs more staff for medical care and so on.
According to hospitals, the number of people infected with the highly contagious Delta strain has increased, the number of patients requiring hospitalization has increased rapidly, and patients with more severe symptoms are being transported.
Maki Ono, a nurse in the new corona ward, said, "As the number of patients with high severity has increased, it takes longer for each person to check the respiratory condition, suck the tan, and change the position. The degree of this is increasing. We, the nurses, are getting tired, so we need to increase the number of staff. "