[MCOH-EH] hospitals, patients, visitors, and protecitons

[Hodgson, Michael - OSHA]

Over the weekend, the ACOEM COVID webinar, as usual, presented some phenomenally useful information.  One of the Sunday talks was on burnout and moral injury, generating an interesting discussion in the subsequent book that discussed the plague, where the protagonist had violated some epidemic management guidance he considered inappropriate or at least too harsch for him to bear as his friend was dying.  Someone pointed out that he likely subsequently died of plague pneumonia, but that's irrelevant for the broader discussion of current hospital practices and moral injury.

During this epidemic, many hospitals have denied visitors access to sick and dying relatives.  There is meanwhile a substantial body of literature on how long viral shedding happens.  There's a fair amount of evidence on appropriate management, increasingly with testing.  Families tell stories of how painful that facility posture is; on occasion, courageous staff (mostly nurses) will let people in "illegally."

How many hospital systems have tried letting visitors in to see patients?  What kinds of testing programs did they develop to explore such support?  What kind of face coverings / N95s?

I'd love to see a discussion on this forum even though I'm no longer an active clinician in a hospital setting.

Anyone?

Michael Hodgson, MD
Formerly a clinician in a hospital system



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