Medical workers at the frontlines of the coronavirus outbreak in Italy are working days on end as the disease continues to grip the country
Some doctors work long shifts that span days at a time.
Doctors are assuming several roles at once to deal with a multitude of patients.
Dr. Daniele Macchini, who works at the Humanitas Gavazzeni hospital in the northern city of Bergamo, described in a Facebook post what he saw at the frontlines of the disease.
"I saw the tiredness on faces that didn't know what it was despite the already exhausting workloads they had," he wrote. "I saw a solidarity of all of us who never failed to go to our internist colleagues to ask, 'What can I do for you now?'"
"Doctors who move beds and transfer patients, who administer therapies instead of nurses."
Source: New York Post
Overwhelmed doctors are faced with the difficult decision of who to treat first.
A shortage of beds and medical supplies force hospital workers to make tough calls on which patients to treat first, as entire wards are shutting down to accommodate the growing number of coronavirus patients seeking treatment.
Doctors are beginning to prioritize younger coronavirus patients over older individuals with pre-existing conditions as they have the "greatest chance of survival," Politico reported. The coronavirus has shown to be more fatal in the latter group of patients.
"It is a fact that we will have to choose [whom to treat], and this choice will be entrusted to individual operators on the ground who may find themselves having ethical problems," a doctor working in Milan told Politico.
Source: Politico
Shortage of doctors lead to some patients with less severe symptoms being turned away for treatment.
Some hospitals are so overwhelmed with patients that they are beginning to turn away elderly patients and non-coronavirus cases, the Daily Mail reported.
Those who haven't tested positive for the coronavirus are being given a "leaflet" and "told to perform specialist tasks for which they are not qualified, while some patients over 65 are not even being assessed," one doctor told the Mail.
Source: The Daily Mail
Italy is trying to supplement lack of doctors by pulling some out of retirement and advancing the graduation of nursing students still attending school.
"We'll take anyone: old, young. We need personnel, especially qualified doctors," the region's top health official, Giulio Gallera told the Associated Press.
Source: Associated Press
Doctors are unable to live their lives outside of the hospital and refrain from seeing their families out of fear of infecting them.
"There are no more shifts, no more hours. Social life is suspended for us," Dr. Macchini wrote. "We no longer see our families for fear of infecting them. Some of us have already become infected despite the protocols."
Source: New York Post
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