THREAD

Message to @GovBillLee 12/15

Update on my Emergency Department shift last night. With no beds in our hospital, closest available hospital with beds available for transfer was out of state. A story of 3 patients as an example of how this affects even non-Covid patients.

Patient 1: Pt with recent heart surgery. Now with fever, pneumonia. Covid neg. Clearly bacterial infection with sepsis. Refuses transfer and refuses to stay in ER overnight awaiting a bed in the am. Left Against Medical Advice (AMA) despite my desperate pleas to stay.

Patient 2: Pt with IVDU and back pain. Concern for infection in spine that could cause paralysis, severe infection, sepsis. COVID negative. Leaves AMA refusing transfer to available beds because he doesn’t want to go that far.

Patient 3: Kidney failure. Missed dialysis x 2 last week. BP 240/120. X-ray shows lungs full of fluid. COVID neg. After 3 BP meds in ED, BP better but still short of breath. Needs dialysis. Finally agrees to stay in our ER until a bed opens in the am. Refuses transfer.

@govbilllee - please help us. It’s not just Covid patients suffering. It’s all patients. It’s nurses, housekeeping staff, doctors, techs, and staff. I look into their eyes every shift, and we know we are where we need to be. We are proud to do the job. We need you to help.

In the last 24 hours, my best Emergency Physician friend was dx with COVID because of an exposure at work to a stroke patient who tested +. He now can’t work and his family is at risk. He’s proud of his work.

He wouldn’t be anywhere else and probably feels like he’s letting his team down as he can’t be there. We will pick up the extra shifts and continue to do our best for our patients. But this shows the problem. We have staff missing because there is so much COVID in our state.

In the last week, I have diagnosed patients with a traumatic head bleed, kidney stone, and skin infection, all COVID +. It is raging so much in our communities right now that we cannot contain it. COVID19 is being spread before people even know they have it. We need your help.

1/100 of people in Tennessee currently have COVID. CURRENTLY. Not past infections. Right now. At the grocery store in TN right now, it’s probable someone with COVID is there too. When these patients need hospitalization in 7-10 days, we are going to be in an even worse place.

@govbilllee - please enact a statewide mask mandate. Please allow those 975 vaccines in your office in your Twitter photo op to be for front line workers. Even a single dose is more effective than a dose in a box. Please help @protectmycare.

I will be back in the ER tonight working the overnight shift trying to do my best for my patients. I hope you will consider how you can help.

James Parnell, MD, FAAEM
President, Tennessee Chapter of American Academy of Emergency Medicine

@TheTNHoller @flakebarmer @kara_nashpost @WSMV @FOXNashville @protectmycare @NC5PhilWilliams @TNDeptofHealth @Tennessean @NPRHealth @WPLN @EMSwami @protectmycare