DP(E): “In the Bubble with Andy Slavitt: Following One Shift in the COVID-19 Unit (with ER Dr. Megan Ranney)”
Starting another blog post series! This one has a simple goal: Share one podcast episode daily as that day’s “must listen”. Given my wide-ranging podcast appetite, these will range across the spectrum from pop culture, to politics, to healthcare & the pandemic, to business & startups, to psychology, sports, statistics, and…yeah, you get the idea.
Today’s podcast episode, in it’s own words:
Dr. Megan Ranney recorded her shift in a COVID-19 ER in Rhode Island the day after Thanksgiving and was kind enough to talk to Andy about it. Though her job is both physically and mentally exhausting, she manages to remain hopeful. This is a rare look inside a hospital’s COVID-19 bubble.
This “day-in-the-life” close view was fascinating, depressing, yet also generated a lot of hope for me, especially validating my general faith in humanity but personified in this case by the likes of Dr. Ranney.
For me some of the more interesting/insightful/illuminating takeaways were:
- The idea of providing iPads in hospitals so patients could FaceTime with their family who can’t join them in the hospital due to Covid (remember, humans need interaction with other humans to mitigate loneliness and to fuel hope)
- The burdensome nature of the multi-layered PPE that causes sores, quickens the onset of fatigue due to the extra weight, the sweating, and the inability to stay hydrated, and the fact that all reusable stuff—think BPA-free water bottles, travel food containers and the like—is out the window due to restrictions, AND the fact that bathroom management has to be carefully scheduled due to the process of donning and removing the PPE
- The need to wear surgical masks over N95 masks due to the cost of the latter and the need to keep them as clean as possible for re-use, vs. the much cheaper and more readily available surgical masks.
And because I always listen and then want to loop back to services, philanthropic efforts, non-profits, etc., rattled off in shows like this, here are the references in this episode (these are drawn directly from the show notes):
- Learn more about Get Us PPE, the group co-founded by Megan Ranney that’s getting personal protective equipment to those who need it most: https://getusppe.org/
- Read about the field hospitals opening in Rhode Island: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/11/30/metro/rhode-island-sends-alert-hospitals-reach-covid-19-capacity/
- Check out the tweet Megan mentions from the night before her shift in the COVID-19 unit: https://twitter.com/meganranney/status/1332166999200456704
- Learn more about Megan’s work with the American Foundation for Firearm Injury Reduction in Medicine, the country’s only non-profit committed to reducing firearm injury through the public health approach: www.affirmresearch.org
