Covid 19 Part XXII-30,360 in ROI(1,781 deaths) 8,035 in NI (568 deaths)(10/09)Read OP

majcos wrote: »

Not every patient admitted to a hospital is tested for Covid.

I don't know where you are but where I am they are .

DebDynamite wrote: »

Goldengirl, if a patient shows up to hospital for a scheduled procedure and tests positive on the routine test and then sent home as the procedure can’t go ahead, are they included on the hospital numbers even though they never even took up a bed in hospital?

Also, if someone showed up to A&E because of a heart attack or drug overdose and again tested positive, and obviously were kept in because of the reason they attended A&E in the first place, are they also counted as cases?

I don’t know the answer to this, so would be good to know from someone who works in a hospital. I don’t know what constitutes a hospital case.

1. No . Not called in by admissions until test result back negative .
2. Yes , of course and would be isolated .
You know that outcomes for ANY patient with any illness are compromised with Covid .
Risk of clots , inflammation and many other complications increased greatly .

CalamariFritti wrote: »

This has been common knowledge more or less since the start of this. In a roundabout way.
Very early on it was said that all ICU patients and covid deaths - without exception - had one thing in common. A strong vitamin D deficit.

Call me what you want, I know some will, but it was then that I began to realise this is all blown out of proportion. A super duper deadly virus that we turn the whole world upside down over. Only its grand when you take some vitamin d (cod liver oil).

This is a very good recent article on the protective qualities of vitamin d https://www.news-medical.net/news/20200804/Can-Vitamin-D-help-combat-the-coronavirus.aspx

It is interesting because ‘the authors wrote that laboratory data showing the effects of Vitamin D on host response to the novel coronavirus are scarce. However, one study had shown that when the scientists screened four compound libraries for antiviral activity, they found that vitamin D’s active metabolite, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, has an inhibitory effect in human epithelial cells that are infected with SARS-CoV-2.‘ but when we were discussing a scientific trial on aerosol transmission a trial which was controlled in extreme circumstances similar to this was not appropriate.

It is also very clear that it says vitamin D may assist in the protection against the virus. But when i said that masks assist in the reduction of transmission it was ridiculed as no clear evidence of how much.

We all know that vitamin d increases immune system so of course that is important. But if shed load is high or if defences are lowered through other causes, transmission is still happening so not a catch all but better.

It also Couldn’t assists near the end of the virus by Creating this virus eating pathogens but that’s just a theory and not known how effective.

Finally over 40% of irish people have a sever vitamin d deficiency due to our climate and our diet. It’s not a case of swigging cod liver oil and filling up the tank. It needs to be absorbed and appropriately assimilated which requires additional chemicals, enzymes and reactions which could take years to balance or maybe earlier depending on the person. But it is a process.

Therefore saying a few multivitamins and I could have taken on the virus singlehandedly is both incorrect and dangerous. People will start to believe it and then fcucking mayhem. Remember the posts on salt water killing Covid and curing infections and amount of people believing it. That’s without all the resistance. Now it would be marching for D.

Wolf359f wrote: »

I'd love to see the figures. There's people dismissing increasing hospital admissions as just people turning up to A&E and being tested positive, admitted, treated and discharged. We've had approximately 100 admissions in the past month, we've also had roughly a 1% positively rate with tests. It would lead me to believe, of those 100 admissions, only 1 would have been positive. Assuming it's just asymptomatic people going in for treatment/outpatient procedures.
The other 99?

I can't access or give those figures, but as said people who do get in , despite screening would be symptomatic and ill enough either through Covid or another reason to be hospitalised.
Beds are too tight to have well people floating around blocking vital space .

joeguevara wrote: »

Therefore saying a few multivitamins and I could have taken on the virus singlehandedly is both incorrect and dangerous. People will start to believe it and then fcucking mayhem.

That is not what is being said. However it was said that vitamins mainly D and C are good to fight it and it looks that they can prevent possible infection to become a bad case. Chinese shipped it to affected provinces by the tons.
It was mercilesly ridiculed at the start only to became accepted as evidence started to accumulate.
The same goes for hydroxychloroquine.

majcos wrote: »

The numbers being admitted through Emergency Departments for a completely different issue and then happening at the same time to test positive for Covid are very small. This is a virtually non-existent cohort at present. Patients go through a screening questionnaire initially on presentation to Emergency Departments and are triaged from there.

Not all patients admitted to hospital are tested in every hospital. Policy for testing on admission varies according to local protocols.

All patients being admitted with any of the symptoms linked to Covid obviously are tested. Typically patients going for surgery or being admitted to critical care areas are tested regardless of their reasons for admission as implications of missing a case in those settings are more significant. In the critical care setting, patients may be retested at intervals.

Patients presenting with a condition clearly not linked to Covid and being admitted to a general ward are not all tested in every hospital. For example, a patient admitted with a prolonged seizure with a known history of poorly controlled epilepsy or a pelvic fracture which does not require surgery will not necessarily be tested.

Patients already in hospital for a different reason would be retested if develop any symptoms suggestive of Covid. In that scenario if a patient tested positive within the hospital, an internal contact tracing process would be undertaken by infection control to include both patients and staff.

If just one patient tested positive within a ward which had not been detected on admission and therefore not isolated, that ward or that room in the ward, would be closed to further admissions until the patient group within that room/ward is tested. This could then reveal other asymptomatic contacts among existing patients in the hospital.

Thanks for your input. It's certainly a lot of hoops hospitals have to jump through. But it appears common sense is prevailing. I understand you can't delay treatment for certain patients presenting, so all precautions are taken.

Goldengirl wrote: »

Were they her words ....... or was it that patients admitted through A&E and from other hospitals may not be tested until after admitted or because they already have a negative test from another hospital ?
Beaumont is a tertiary referral centre for many specialities, like St James' and Mater hospitaks , and all of these would be getting inward transfers every day .

Patients being transferred between hospitals are tested prior to transfer as far as I know. Even done in emergency transfers with more rapid assays. If happened that were not tested, I think receiving hospital would isolate and screen. Would also have implications for ambulance staff doing the transfer etc.

Patents transferring between hospitals are tested also for other hospital acquired infections such as MRSA and CPE in many situations.

Wolf359f wrote: »

Is that Dr Laura Durcan from Beaumont hospital? The only hospital experiencing an outbreak right now? Certainly gives credence to her claim.

Yes.
However she was speaking on behalf of IHCA , which would have been about countrywide hospital practices , I would say , and not specifically one hospital .

majcos wrote: »

Patients being transferred between hospitals are tested prior to transfer as far as I know. Even done in emergency transfers with more rapid assays. If happened that were not tested, I think receiving hospital would isolate and screen. Would also have implications for ambulance staff doing the transfer etc.

Patents transferring between hospitals are tested also for other hospital acquired infections such as MRSA and CPE in many situations.

Yes . I said that .
We would always have had MRSA and CPE .
Often Covid tests are repeated because the initial result is not back when the patient is being admitted to the receiving hospital .
This may account for some extra swab numbers that posters here might be trying to pin down , numbers wise.
All ambulance staff are tested after any transfer or dealings with a non negative tested patient ( there must be a better way to say that !)

Goldengirl wrote: »

All ambulance staff are tested after any transfer or dealings with a non negative tested patient ( there must be a better way to say that !)

Seriously?
Why?

Even if they transferred a patient that was positive they wouldn't even show a positive result yet (if ever)

Something not right there

fritzelly wrote: »

Seriously?
Why?

Even if they transferred a patient that was positive they wouldn't even show a positive result yet (if ever)

Something not right there

Non negative tested , not a positive , sorry my wording is poor , I'm tired .

If a patient turns out to be positive and they were unaware at the time of transfer , they would still have PPE but depending on length of time in contact may have to be tested before they can return to ambulance duties .
Not my job just what I have been told but if there is an ambulance person on here tonight they might have the protocol .

majcos wrote: »

That’s a very valid point. I wasn’t aware that such testing of ambulance staff was happening.

I understood that if patient’s status was unknown, paramedics would treat patient as undetermined and hence wear basic PPE and sanitize ambulance which is what they should be doing with every patient. If a clinically suspected case, I think full PPE would be likely to be used.

Exactly well said
Usually they know prior to transfer whether positive or negative , but if they don't. I have seen them wearing plastic aprons and gloves and a mask , instead of having full PPE .
Risk of infection is low still but it really depends on the level of contact, and so the testing .
Better to have full PPE for every patient but you can ask Paul Reid why that is the case !

majcos wrote: »

How is the lab managing the workload of testing every admission? And is the turnaround time not impacting the length of time someone spends in ED before being admitted to a ward? Or do you have a really high percentage of isolation rooms to place patients in until results come back? Or is it mainly elective admissions?

Would be great to test everyone on admission but at the present incidence rate in the general population, I would think rate of unexpected positives is minuscule. It could be done more easily in a hospital with predominantly elective work /scheduled planned admissions but I think it would be difficult at present in a hospital with a majority of acute unplanned admissions.

You can test using Point Of Care such as Abbott NOW (Alere) it takes 13min, it’s called Point of care because the test and result is carried out at....The point of care..ie emergency Dept.. that’s what it’s designed to do. This avoids having to send to a lab at which will usually run batches of tests all at once.

Goldengirl wrote: »

Non negative tested , not a positive , sorry my wording is poor , I'm tired .

If a patient turns out to be positive and they were unaware at the time of transfer , they would still have PPE but depending on length of time in contact may have to be tested before they can return to ambulance duties .
Not my job just what I have been told but if there is an ambulance person on here tonight they might have the protocol .

Ambulance staff are only tested if they have symptoms.

fritzelly wrote: »

What exactly is your field of expertise, do you work in an hospital?
You made a claim and then admitted "someone told you" and backtracked on it

Don't be making hidden slurs against me - all the time on these threads and suddenly you are an expert in the workings of the HSE

I think you are the one with the " slurs" .
I am a nurse in a HSE hospital. I have never said anything else .
If I don't know something I will say it.
I never made any "claim " as you say .
I said that it is what I have been told by ambulance personnel and I also said if someone knows the protocol they can support or deny it.
I believe that is all I can say .
If you choose to be riled about it nothing I can do .