The head of the Szczecin temporary hospital, Dr. Magda Wiśniewska in an interview with PAP admitted that patients with COVID-19 wait too long at home for their symptoms to pass. - After 10-14 days they come to us with full-blown covid pneumonia, she said.
The facility run by Dr. Wiśniewska is the only institution of this type in the region, located in the building of the clinical hospital No. 2 in the Pomeranian region of Szczecin. During the year of operation, almost 1.3 thousand people were hospitalized there. patients from all over the province.
- We strive to provide the best possible care. Patients who go to a temporary hospital are immediately looked after by doctors, nurses, paramedics and medical caregivers - we have a full range of all professionals. The difference compared to other hospitals is the dormitory rooms "- said Dr. Wiśniewska, who is in charge of the temporary hospital.
Unfortunately, the doctor points out that people with COVID wait too long before going to the hospital. - After 10-14 days they come to us with full-blown covid pneumonia - he explains. She also added that virtually all patients in this group require oxygen therapy. "Oxygen therapy has been going full steam ahead in these patients practically from the very beginning" - said Dr. Wiśniewska.
The specialist emphasized that about half of the patients, apart from COVID-19 pneumonia, suffer from comorbidities. The second group, according to the doctor, are "patients who have decompensation of completely different diseases, but are accompanied by covid, and therefore cannot be in target departments: cardiology, gastroenterology or surgery."
- We can give the patient oxygen therapy first, then there are high-flow oxygen therapies that are available only to specialized centers, and if it stops helping, i.e. the patient still has respiratory failure, at this point we talk to our anaesthesiologists to pass him on to respiratory ward - described Dr. Wiśniewska.
The woman in an interview with PAP admitted that the hospital she runs also includes patients who immediately require a stay in a ventilator ward. - In most cases we try to treat so that the patient in the maintenance oxygen ward can geteverything we can offer. We assess the patient's condition on an ongoing basis - she explained.
The doctor noted that the ventilator "is one of the methods of treating respiratory failure in the course of covid pneumonia" and added that although such treatment has a worse prognosis, the hospital had "a lot of patients who returned to the oxygen department after ventilator therapy and went home. "She also added that the last resort during treatment is ECMO, i.e. extracorporeal blood oxygenation.
Of the 10 unvaccinated patients who required this method, only one survived.