密歇根新闻广播 急诊室医生分享治疗新型冠状病毒的经验教训

 

Grappling with a surge in critically ill patients, the lives of healthcare professionals in Michigan look very different than they did a few weeks ago. Detroit continues to be one of the nation's hotspots for COVID-19 cases and deaths, and Michigan has the third highest number of infections among all states.

Dr. Charlene Babcock practices emergency medicine at Ascension St. John in Detroit. She says when the virus first hit, the hospital had an influx¹ of very sick patients. Since COVID-19 is a novel virus “the ideal way to manage these cases was essentially² unknown,” according to Dr. Babcock.

On March 14, she shared a video that showed how to ventilate up to four patients with one ventilator. The video was widely circulated and the method she demonstrated has been used with COVID-19 patients in New York and Italy.

Fortunately, Babcock said, her hospital and others in Detroit haven’t had to use the method because there are enough ventilators in the area.

The method was developed by Dr. Babcock and a colleague back in 2006. They published a small study about it, which Babcock’s daughter brought up after hearing about the shortage of ventilators in Italy due to COVID-19. Babcock decided³ to make a video to share the findings of the study.

“That was the whole purpose of the video, to show that mechanically wise it can happen, you can ventilate more than one person on one ventilator. And that’s why I did the video, but then after that people ran with the idea” Babcock said and hopes doctors will improve upon the method she showcases.

One unexpected consequence that Babcock says she finds alarming is how few people are coming into the emergency room for things like strokes and heart attacks. She fears that people are having to deal with these emergencies at home for fear of catching⁴ COVID-19

“Other illnesses are still happening at the same rate,” she said. “I really think that people need to understand that the hospitals are very good at cohorting people who are infectious and keeping people safe, so that they don’t catch an infection if they come in.”

Babcock said that her hospital has started seeing a downturn in the number of COVID patients which “correlates with the flattening⁵ of the curve.” She, like many other experts, still encourages people to stay home but does acknowledge that it’s not easy.

“You don’t really appreciate how easy it is to go out and do stuff on a whim⁶, just because you want” she said. “It has helped me appreciate the simple things like just getting together with your family that’s limited now.”

1 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

2 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

5 flattening   

n. 修平 动词flatten的现在分词

参考例句：

• Flattening of the right atrial border is also seen in constrictive pericarditis. 右心房缘变平亦见于缩窄性心包炎。
• He busied his fingers with flattening the leaves of the book. 他手指忙着抚平书页。

6 whim   

n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想

参考例句：

• I bought the encyclopedia on a whim.我凭一时的兴致买了这本百科全书。
• He had a sudden whim to go sailing today.今天他突然想要去航海。