Respiratory

Message from ICUHOD, Dr Cyrus Edibam

We will need as much help in the ICU as possible.

 I thank you for your offer and we will call upon many of you who have kindly volunteered to help in the coming weeks  

You absolutely dont need to know about ventilation  to help us in ICU or feel you need to learn about ventilation before you come to work or assist. Volunteer junior Drs will be part of a team of more senior Drs. You will be taught what you need on the job and quickly. 

I wouldn't expect a JMO volunteer with no experience to go and look after a complex respiratory failure case-ever. The more people we have on the ground to help out with the multitudes of tasks in ICU the more pts the senior Drs can supervise and treat.

What is needed urgently for us to succeed in this crisis is upskilling nursing staff to achieve ventilator competency. 

If you have ever worked  in an Intensive care unit you will understand that care of the intensive care patient is much more than just playing with ventilator knobs.  Our nurses deliver the 24/7 care that the supervising Drs prescribe and look after the patient and their attached ventilator  along with physiotherapist and resp technologists, consultants and SRs. 

Without trained nursing staff to care for the patients we can get nowhere. What we need from you is assistance to help in all aspects of delivering medical care to ICU pts. However you will have the opportunity to learn quickly about ventilation if/when you come to work with us.