Healthcare Hero: Collette Castiglione, 16N, Med/Surg Telemetry Unit
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Title
Healthcare Hero: Collette Castiglione, 16N, Med/Surg Telemetry Unit
Description
Our unit specializes in renal care, so we see patients before and after procedures; we prep them for surgeries; we take them for dialysis, endoscopies; and so on. Every now and then we have a rapid response situation, but that doesn’t happen very often. Well, it didn’t. But everything changed when the pandemic hit. I’d say the biggest change in our unit is how we approach patient care. We needed to limit exposure for ourselves and our patients, so instead of a bunch of people in and out of rooms multiple times throughout a given day, we would - and still do - cluster our care. I gear up from head to toe. I wear a gown, gloves, a mask, face shield, and a hair covering. Then, I enter a patient’s room and begin. Bathing, feeding, cleaning, taking vitals. Oftentimes, we spent two hours straight with one patient, which can be a lot when you have four, five, or more patients to care for. Even the vibe has changed on our floor. Patients used to be able to leave their rooms, walk around, and see their families. None of those things are happening right now. When the pandemic first hit, everybody seemed to be in the hospital for COVID. It was Coronavirus all day, every day. Now, people are once again coming in for other medical reasons, as well, and some just happen to be COVID-positive. So in some ways, it’s even more complicated because care and treatments aren’t as streamlined. There is so much more going on, and to be honest, it’s exhausting. It’s so easy to burn out, and it’s not uncommon for people to put their mental health on the back burner. But it’s important to take care of ourselves in order to take care of others. What I will also say is that even though it’s still so scary, we know a lot more this time around. We now have knowledge and tools to tackle this second wave, and that makes me hopeful."
Subject
Extent
1 file
Language
en
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Type
Format
Identifier
cap-hch-ColletteCastiglione
Date Submitted
2021-06-13
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Attached media
cap-hch-ColletteCastiglione.jpg
