First let’s look at John Whyte, Dr representing WEB-MDinterviewing Dr. Cameron Kyle-Slidell who is treating COVID19 patients in his responsibilities for Critical Care in a Brooklyn hospital. He feels that we may be using the wrong paradigm in our use of ventillators, which is currently running a death rate (very approximately) of 70%. Perhaps we should consider the impact of COVID19 being more like high-altitude sickness and less like pneumonia.
The second video is a webinar of medical specialists largely talking about when to intubate (put on ventilators. I will warn you that the terminology sometimes gets very technical. The consensus was to delay. The virus behaves so differently that was hard to tell using precise giluidelines. Personally if hospitalized I would question my physician the hospital policy on intubation and make sure the policy. Once you are on a ventilator the decision when to take you off is significant. Dr Whyte stressed that COVID19 be treated as a progressive Oxygen failure rather than a respitory failure.
Some points I found interesting:
- Most of the doctors mentioned using CPAP machines which often are used for sleep Apnea
- Dr Whyte felt strongly that COVID 19 be considered a progressive oxygen failure rather than a respiratory failure
- Once on intubation you have to remain on it or you may die in minutes. When do you decide to intubate. Hospital tried to use two physicians to decide
