Speaker 1: It's Friday, March. I'm Oscar Ramiras from the Daily Dive
Speaker 1: podcast in Los Angeles, and this is your daily coronavirus update.
Speaker 1: Many experts have signaled that the U S could be
Speaker 1: in for a shortage of life saving ventilators. While we
Speaker 1: are not currently short, hospitals are trying to brace themselves
Speaker 1: for a spike in severe cases where patients need help breathing.
Speaker 1: The government is ordering more and encouraging states to also
Speaker 1: do the same. Dr Jeanette Nesh, what Fox News medical
Speaker 1: contributor joins us for What to Know about a possible
Speaker 1: ventilator shortage? Thanks for joining us, Dr Nesh, what my pleasure?
Speaker 1: I wanted to talk about ventilators in this whole thing
Speaker 1: that we're going through with a coronavirus COVID nineteen. A
Speaker 1: lot of people, a lot of experts, are pointing to
Speaker 1: a possible ventilator shortage, and really that's the main supportive
Speaker 1: treatment for patients that get into this critical stage of
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen. A lot of them need to be put
Speaker 1: on these ventilators when their lungs just aren't providing the
Speaker 1: amount of oxygen that they need. Dr Nesh, what tell
Speaker 1: us a little bit about this whole process of getting
Speaker 1: ventilators and this possible shortage that we could be seeing.
Speaker 1: We don't have ventilator shortage right now. This is just
Speaker 1: a matter of predicting the future, predicting our potential needs
Speaker 1: and preparing for the potential of having to have thousands
Speaker 1: and thousands of more ventilators. We currently have thousands in
Speaker 1: our current stockstiles here in the United States, but it's
Speaker 1: estimated that we may be thousands short. But as it
Speaker 1: is right now, manufacturers have been working with our governments
Speaker 1: administration to help create and produce not only more ventilators,
Speaker 1: but also pp s were which are just as critical
Speaker 1: for helthcare providers. PPEs meaning gowns, mass gloves, those sorts
Speaker 1: of things. For those that aren't familiar with what a
Speaker 1: ventilator is, sometimes an infection can get into your system
Speaker 1: and can cause shok and people can stop breathing on
Speaker 1: their own. So the ventilator is just an artificial breathing
Speaker 1: tool until your body is well enough been strong enough
Speaker 1: to breathe on its own, if you will. So that's
Speaker 1: the purpose of that. Someone comes in with respiratory distress
Speaker 1: and oxygen isn't helping. Steroids aren't helping, and they're not
Speaker 1: able to breathe on their own, you know, they lose
Speaker 1: consciousness sometimes maps when we have to put them on
Speaker 1: a ventilator and that means where we put a tube
Speaker 1: into your body so that we can do artificial breathing
Speaker 1: for you. And the goal is it's just to be
Speaker 1: temporary until your body heals. Yeah, the administration has said
Speaker 1: that they've ordered a lot more. Obviously we have a
Speaker 1: stockpile also, but they're encouraging states and cities and other
Speaker 1: hospitals to go straight to the manufacturers I guess to
Speaker 1: order them as well. These things can be very costly.
Speaker 1: One of the manufacturers is called Medtronics so Metronic I
Speaker 1: SEU ventilator can cost between twenty five thou to fifty
Speaker 1: dollars and they're big, they're big items. But beyond this,
Speaker 1: also the people needed to operate these ventilators is important also,
Speaker 1: And as you mentioned, there's not necessarily a shortage now,
Speaker 1: but we're trying to get ahead of this so predicting
Speaker 1: the future, but there are lower numbers of people that
Speaker 1: can actually operate these things as well. We have what
Speaker 1: are called our keys respiratory technicians who are just phenomenal
Speaker 1: and monitoring patients who are on ventilators. They work closely
Speaker 1: with i C pulmonologists and they are just critical in
Speaker 1: the field of pulmonology and I C use and yes,
Speaker 1: if you are short on healthcare providers, then it defeats
Speaker 1: the purpose of having the equipment. So that's why it's
Speaker 1: so important to that we keep our healthcare providers that
Speaker 1: we do have healthy and safe, and also not only
Speaker 1: stock up on ventilators and other supplies, but also have
Speaker 1: surge staffing to help meet the potential surge capacity that
Speaker 1: we may see here in the next few weeks. Dr.
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask about your practice in general and
Speaker 1: patients that you've seen coming in obviously worried that they
Speaker 1: might have coronavirus. You've done a bunch of testing as well.
Speaker 1: Tell us about that process and just patients that you've
Speaker 1: seen and most likely suspect that they have this as well. Right,
Speaker 1: it's not a surprise that we're going to see increase
Speaker 1: number of cases, especially as we have the expansion of
Speaker 1: testing capability. I have had patients come in with flu
Speaker 1: like symptoms, covid like symptoms, the symptoms overlap. A lot
Speaker 1: of them are are similar fever cops, shortness of breath,
Speaker 1: a source throat, and running nose congestion. So what we
Speaker 1: do is initially we will check their vitals and do
Speaker 1: an influenza test first, which is a quick test that
Speaker 1: you swab the nose, and if that is positive, then
Speaker 1: we stop right there and we will send them home
Speaker 1: on medications and follow up instructions. But if it's a
Speaker 1: negative test and they have fever, low oxygen levels, and
Speaker 1: that they don't look well and they need the criteria,
Speaker 1: then we will proceed to swab them for coronavirus, and
Speaker 1: while we wait for those results, we put them on
Speaker 1: fourteen day quarantine so that they are not infecting other
Speaker 1: people while we're waiting for those results, which can take
Speaker 1: several days up to a week as it is right now,
Speaker 1: but soon and I hope we'll be able to have
Speaker 1: a more rapid testing results a specific medicine that you prescribe.
Speaker 1: Let's say they test negative for the flu and we
Speaker 1: suspect to have COVID nineteen. Is there any medication that
Speaker 1: you're prescribing at that point? As of right now, there
Speaker 1: is no FDA Improved medications to treat COVID nineteen coronavirus.
Speaker 1: There are some areas of the world where they're using,
Speaker 1: for example, anti virals like called REMDA severe callitris. Some
Speaker 1: anti HIV medicine and some LA medicines have been tried. Also,
Speaker 1: some malaria medications have been used as a last resort.
Speaker 1: But as it is right now, the only thing I'm
Speaker 1: prescribing our supportive medicine. Like, for example, as someone says
Speaker 1: I just feel a little short of bread, I will
Speaker 1: give them a breathing nebulizer machine in the office, and
Speaker 1: I will prescribe to them and an inhaler like an
Speaker 1: albuterole inhaler for example. And if they're coughing, I will also,
Speaker 1: you know, say hey, use the humidifier, drink lots of fluids,
Speaker 1: stay hydrated. You can use them over the counter cough
Speaker 1: medicines and all over the counter thail and al robit
Speaker 1: proform for fever. And sometimes I'll prescribe prescriptions drink cough
Speaker 1: medicine like Benzona, take capsules or something like that, or
Speaker 1: some corpstips only if it's needed. If there for example,
Speaker 1: having trouble sleeping or if they're wheezing, then will add
Speaker 1: a little bit of a steroid to so it's more
Speaker 1: symptomatic care. But of course that's not all. We really
Speaker 1: have to make sure that we're giving them very strict
Speaker 1: precautions to stay home and rest so that they don't
Speaker 1: spread to other people. Even if it's not coronavirus, the
Speaker 1: flues that's contagious, you can spread that as well. And
Speaker 1: then on top of that we give them very strict
Speaker 1: our precautions and tell them if your symptoms worse and
Speaker 1: if you cannot breathe, if you're having chest pain and
Speaker 1: your sort of breath, then will have them seek further
Speaker 1: medical care and give them emergency instructions. Dr Jeanette Nish
Speaker 1: what Fox News medical contributor and family and emergency medical doctor,
Speaker 1: thank you very much for joining us. It's my pleasure.
Speaker 1: Thank you for having me. This has been your daily
Speaker 1: coronavirus update. Don't forget that. For today's big news stories,
Speaker 1: you can check me out on the Daily Dive podcast
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