Doctors, nurses, and other health care workers around the world have been battling COVID-19 for nearly 11 months, with the World Health Organization raising concerns about the welfare of workers at the front line.
World Health Organization: Burnout Is Inevitable
The World Health Organization warned this week at an emergency meeting of ministers of health in Europe that there is a high risk of burnout for health care workers at the coronavirus front line.
World Health Organization regional director of Europe, Hans Kluge, said that doctors, nurses, and other health care workers are "exhausted, adding that "people are burning out."
Kluge went on to ask governments to "go the extra mile" in creating programs that should protect the well-being of health care workers, especially as cases rise and hospitals are getting overwhelmed.
Aside from the physical and mental health of health workers being at risk due to the pandemic, there have also been other issues that continue to haunt hospitals such as seemingly irresponsible relatives of infected COVID-19 patients.
Abuse Of Leeway In England ICUs
Front-line workers across Europe understand the pain that relatives and friends feel over loved ones fighting for their lives at intensive care units, but there have been incidents of families abusing rules on communicating with patients in England.
Video calling was set up to help families cope with the situation but in one instance, 45 relatives were seen crammed into one room in hopes of getting a glimpse at their COVID-inflicted loved one.
Linda Gregson, who works at a Blackburn ICU, said the incident was not isolated as "there have been numerous relatives in the room not social distancing," resulting in Zoom calls being stopped.
Aside from abusing the rules established so relatives can speak with their critically ill loved ones, there have also been some cases of relatives verbally abusing health care workers.
Finally, there were incidents of relatives swapping when nurses weren't looking at night, breaking the rule of having only the same two people visit a COVID-19 patient.
The incidents of breaking the rules in England have raised concerns among workers at the frontline who are already exhausted with the second wave in the United Kingdom as there are still people who refuse to understand that rules were made to slow the coronavirus.
Texas County ICU Situation 'Surreal'
In El Paso county, Texas, the surge in confirmed coronavirus cases has brought overwhelming numbers of patients in ICUs.
Chief medical officer of the Del Sol Medical Center in El Paso, Dr. Ogechika Alozie, said that health care workers are "being used" to the "hustle and bustle" in the ICU but having a huge number of patients in intensive care "is really unsettling."
Alozie went on to reveal that the ICU situation in El Paso has become "surreal" over the past few weeks as the surge in infections "caught us by surprise."
Like other doctors who survived the first and second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Alozie said the community should still practice proper anti-coronavirus measures even if there have been debates around government policies.
Iowa Hospitals At Risk Of Over-Capacity
Meanwhile in Iowa, doctors warned that hospitals will be overwhelmed soon if the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in surges further in the state.
CEO of University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Suresh Gunasekaran noted that if hospitalizations continue to rise in the next four weeks, there is a possibility hospitals and health facilities will "run out of beds."
Iowa is fast becoming a hot spot of new COVID-19 cases as the state saw an increase of nearly 23% in the average rate of daily new infections over the past two weeks.
Aside from overwhelmed hospitals, it is also expected that the state will face staffing shortages should hospitals not be able to find solutions to staffing rotation.
