Written by: LIU Peixiang, SUN Jie, CHEN Peng, TIAN Chunbo
Translated by: FU Chongshi
Edited by: William Mosteller
Date: 03-11
March 11, 2020 at 15:3445
Harbin Institute of Technology news (LIU Peixiang, SUN Jie, CHEN Peng, TIAN Chunbo text/photo)
In the face of the epidemic, marching forward bravely is our mission, and we will relieve the pain of patients and help them out of danger. We will hang in there as long as the epidemic still exists!-- The supporting medical team of the Heilongjiang Hospital Affiliated with Harbin Institute of Technology Fought Against the Epidemic in Hubei
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Volunteer to work in the epidemic zone: One Voice, One Desire
I am a communist party member with many years of nursing experience, so please consider me first when it comes to deciding the team members.
I am an emergency doctor, and my wife is an emergency nurse. Therefore, we can take care of each other while working together. Both of us apply for the opportunity.
I am experienced in intensive care. Just as the old saying goes, when the country is in trouble, everyone is responsible to save her. I would like to do my best to contribute. Please give me approval;
I beg to be on the team! I'm ready to go! I am willing to fight! Please approve my application!
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Just after the beginning of the battle against the new epidemic, the medical staff in the provincial hospital, short for the Heilongjiang Hospital Affiliated with Harbin Institute of Technology, had started to apply for positions on the supporting team in many different ways like writing letters, sending e-mails, making calls, and texting on Wechat so that their application could reach Party organizations at all levels even before the governmental conscription was issued.
Reading the words of their applications, we can’t help being deeply touched by their angel-like love and strong patriotism. With the determination to fight and the confidence to win, those fighters were ready to go to the front line, which was quite apparent simply from a glance at their petitions. It is no exaggeration to say that all relevant personnel were moved greatly.
For more than 40 days and nights, the fever outpatient department of the provincial hospital treated nearly one thousand patients. On January 31, after being informed that Suihua had the first confirmed death from the coronavirus pneumonia in our province, the provincial hospital sent 16 experts there to carry out a continuous rescue for ten days and nights.
After the completion of the treatment task, on February 15th and 23rd, the hospital sent two groups of 64 elite members to support Xiaogan, Hubei. The medical team consisted of 27 doctors, 34 nurses and 3 sensory control specialists from departments specializing in pulmonology, severe diseases, infection control, gastroenterology, cardiology, endocrinology, and neurology
In their hometown, they guarded the health of the Heilongjiang people with practical actions in their own work. In Hubei, they carried the blessing of the Heilongjiang people and built a defense line for the local people despite great danger.
Protect life and bring hope even in adversity.
Besides Wuhan, the city of Xiaogan is the most seriously affected area in Hubei Province. The People's Hospital of Hanchuan is a designated hospital for the centralized treatment of severe patients in the region, where more than 95% of them are treated. After the medical team of the provincial hospital arrived in Hanchuan, they took responsibility for more than 30 patients in the intensive care unit of the hospital, including the ones in critical condition.
A smokeless battle began quietly[LM1] . The team of medical experts developed a personalized treatment plan for each critically ill patient, and adopted a model of multidisciplinary cooperation to save every life lingering on the verge of death.
On February 7th, a 43-year-old male patient admitted to the hospital with fever, cough, and shortness of breath was diagnosed with coronavirus pneumonia. The patient had been left with partial paralysis due to cerebrovascular disease, and his condition was very serious when he was admitted to the hospital. The medical team made a careful plan for treatment and emergency circumstances according to his condition. At noon on February 20, WU Meng, director of the Respiratory Nerve Intensive Care Unit of the provincial hospital, who was making ward rounds, found that the patient's condition suddenly worsened and needed urgent tracheal intubation. Endotracheal intubation has been described as the most dangerous procedure for patients with coronavirus pneumonia, leaving doctors completely exposed to high concentrations of the virus. The situation was very urgent, so WU Meng did not have time to replace the positive pressure head cover, and in order to reduce the possibility of infection of other medical staff, he asked them to leave the ward. On his own, he managed to complete the emergency operation of endotracheal intubation for the patient, after which the patient's condition changed for the better.
Later that night, the patient went into shock again. After eight hours of intensive rescue, the medical team gradually stabilized the patient's condition. A few days later, the patient's condition changed again. CHEN Peng, medical team leader and expert in gastroenterology, ZHANG Min, respiratory medicine expert, WU Meng, critical care medicine expert, and CONG Yunfeng led doctors of various specialties to make collective efforts to adjust the treatment plan every day with the model of multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment. LENG Feifei, deputy director of the nursing department and leader of the nursing group leader and QIAO Shi, chief nurse and deputy team leader, also jointly developed a personalized nursing plan. Every day, the medical staff closely observed the patient by the bed. Every two hours, postural drainage and percussion would be done. As a result of the high intensity of the work, every shift the nurses’ isolation uniforms would be drenched in sweat. Under everyone's careful treatment, the patient’s condition finally stabilized. "Thank you, thank you, thank you" was what he said immediately after he regained the function of speaking out of his still trembling lips.
These words brought tears to each person’s eyes.
Trying their best: Medicine is a humane art and doctors have the heart of benevolence.
"We are not only here to save lives, but also to exchange ideas and learn from each other with our colleagues. I hope we can work together to overcome the epidemic and embrace the beautiful spring in Wuhan..." The medical team not only worked day and night to save lives, but also learned from the local medical staff. Besides, they also passed on their skills to their local peers.
The medical team took over the treatment of severe and critically ill patients. In order to effectively reduce the fatality rate, the medical team used a lot of sophisticated rescue equipment and a variety of operating techniques in the treatment process. As the medical staff were from different medical specialties in different regions of the Heilongjiang Province and the local hospitals in Hanchuan, they were not very skilled in some special rescue equipment and operation. After hearing about this circumstance, LENG Feifei and CHEN Peng had a discussion and proposed to the people's hospital that training classes for nursing should be held, an idea that obtained the warm welcome of the hospital and was supported strongly. XU, deputy director of the people's hospital, said the training was quite timely, requiring not only nurses of the intensive care unit to take part, but also nurses from other departments of the hospital.
On March 2, the provincial hospital and the people's hospital jointly held the first nursing operation training -- the "arterial blood gas standard collection technology" skill operation training course. ZHANG Lin, an intensive care nurse in the provincial hospital, gave a theoretical lecture and played an operation video. In the field operation practice part, QU Mingyue, a nurse in the chest department of the provincial hospital showed the procedure one by one. 43 key nurses from 7 wards in 2 districts of the people's hospital and head nurses from several departments took part in the study during the night shift.
SUN Jie, leader of the provincial hospital nursing skill group, established a public mailbox and a WeChat group, and sent the operation standard, operation theory PPT and operation video of the training to the mailbox of nursing colleagues in the people's hospital, so as to facilitate future learning and communication. QIAO Shi conducted follow-up evaluation on the training effect every day and targeted supervision on students and teachers, striving to make every student master more knowledge and skills of critical care.
On March 7, the medical team retrained the medical staff in the ICU for knowledge of labor and sedation as well as hospital-acquired infection and control. According to the training plan, nursing skills training will be conducted on a weekly basis. In order to improve the operation ability of nurses and further standardize the operation of nursing techniques, the nursing department of the provincial hospital also organized a technical training team to carry out regular training activities and organize nursing personnel to improve their theoretical learning and practical operation ability.
Special oath: We will hang in there as long as the epidemic still exists.
On the evening of March 1, the first general meeting of the temporary party branch of the medical team supporting Xiaogan of the provincial hospital was held in Hanchuan. CHEN Peng, leader of the medical team and secretary of the temporary party branch, led the party members under the bright red party flag, solemnly holding up the right fist and reciting the pledge. In the face of the party flag, their words were sonorous, and they once again remembered the solemn commitment and the communist party member's responsibility and mission. They expressed that with sincere solidarity, they were able to overcome the difficulties of the epidemic and surely they would give the party organization a satisfactory answer.
In this special medical team, the youth below 35 years old accounts for 71%, and there are 25 communist party members and 3 probationary party members, making the team a young party member pioneer model team. To play the role of the party organization's fighting fortress, the medical team set up a temporary party branch. Meanwhile, during the epidemic prevention, five comrades who were prominent in work were approved to become probationary party members by the organization, and 20 comrades were listed as active members of the communist party.
At the meeting, people said, as a party member, we should dare to show our identity, be an example, and take actions. Where the task is heavy, there are party members; where there are difficulties, there are party members. The temporary party branch was like a fortress, and each member was a flag. The fortress was silent, and so was the flag, but it could gather a strong force and inspire great morale.
Spring is the season to sow hope. With the provincial hospital medical team’s unremitting efforts to combat the epidemic and support Xiaogan, some differences have been made. Through concerted efforts and careful treatment, 18 patients have been cured and discharged from the intensive care unit of the Hanchuan People's Hospital, and 10 more patients will be discharged in succession.
Faced with the threat of death, they are the hope of recovery. At present, the medical team is still continuing to fight, protecting the lives of the patients and implementing the oath of the provincial hospital: we will hang in there as long as the epidemic still exists.
