Poster: Doctor and patient generations apart enjoy the sunset together

17:29, March 06, 2020

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  Poster: Doctor and patient generations apart enjoy the sunset together

  (Produced by Song Song, Huang Dongpeng and Wang Jinhong)

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  Anesthesiologists – doctors who are closest to coronavirus patients

  Chen Zhijun, Director of the Anesthesiology Department of Wuhan No.1 Hospital. (Photo: China Plus)Endotracheal intubation is important for the treatment of critically ill COVID-19 patients, but its also highly risky for the doctors who perform it.The procedure involves inserting a tube through the patients mouth down into the trachea to create a new air passage for breathing.During the process, doctors are within 20 centimeters, or about seven inches, from the face of the patient. This close proximity increases a persons risk of contracting the virus.Seventeen anesthesiologists at Wuhan No.1 Hospital have decided to take this risk.This special team was created early in February and the doctors have been on duty 24 hours a day ever since.They are on constant standby in the hospital and rush to perform the endotracheal intubation in the ICU as soon as they receive the emergency call."Intubation is like lesson 101 for us anesthesiologists but performing it on coronavirus patients is another thing," said Dr. Chen Zhijun, Director of the Anesthesiology Department of the hospital, and also the leader of this special team.COVID-19 is passed mainly through respiratory droplets during close contacts, while the latest diagnosis and treatment guideline have confirmed that aerosol transmission is another way of infection.This is likely to happen when people are exposed to high concentrations of contaminated aerosol in a relatively closed environment for a long time.Dr. Chen Zhijun said when he first sent out the message in their WeChat group asking for doctors to join in, many anesthesiologists responded.Among them was 34-year-old Wang Yunfei. He said the decision was not hard to make because he thought it was his responsibility as an anesthesiologist."I just think we should do what we are best at doing. On average, we do endotracheal intubations about 500 times a year. Its routine work for us," he said.Over 20 intubations have been perfo...

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  Community healthcare center opens to non-coronavirus patients

  A nurse in a protective suit takes care of a non-coronavirus patient at Zuoling Street Community Healthcare Center in Wuhan, March 5, 2020. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/chinadaily. A doctor treats a non-coronavirus patient at Zuoling Street Community Healthcare Center in Wuhan, March 5, 2020.