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Inside a Coronavirus Intensive Care Unit

Inside a coronavirus intensive care ward
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[SIDE CONVERSATION] [MEDICAL EQUIPMENT BEEPING] [INAUDIBLE] concerned for the patients. [INAUDIBLE] the patients. That’s why I’m doing staff. I didn’t know you could– remember that– –good. [SIDE CONVERSATION]
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If I could get me another hand. I’ve got two patients [INAUDIBLE].. I have asthma. So it is scary. But we sort of have a duty to our patients, so it is this split between looking out for my own safety, but then also I’m a nurse. But it is scary. Like, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. [SIDE CONVERSATION] We normally wouldn’t even consider how much oxygen we can get into the hospital because we know that normally we don’t have the number of patients requiring oxygen therapy, and it’s something that we all worried about, that we may, unfortunately, run out of oxygen supply if we have too many patients needing us. [SIDE CONVERSATION] It’s been hard.
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But you just got to– I just wanted to get through it for my children.
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Without this lot, I wouldn’t have done it, they’ve been so, so good. [CLAPPING]

The short video covers:

  • The atmosphere of medical crisis
  • The anxieties and fears of staff
  • The sense of ‘duty’ that makes them keep working
  • The lack of resources to treat patients
  • The gratitude of the patient. She says tearfully ‘I wanted to get through it for my children’
  • The optimism that a recovering patient brings for everyone

How does the video fill out the idea of staff having a ‘conscience’ which appeared in the poem at the start of Week 2?

What is it like to reflect on the simultaneous presence of all the factors listed above as contributors to the atmosphere of the crisis?

Did you have noticeable feelings in response to the video? If so, does this help you to think about what staff are going through as they work during a crisis like this?

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Grief, Loss, and Dying During COVID-19

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