Protect our healthcare workers
Fiona Godlee
Abstract
For healthcare staff at the front line of the covid-19 pandemic, work has suddenly become a frightening place. Impossible decisions threaten long term psychological damage from moral injury, say Neil Greenberg and colleagues (doi:10.1136/bmj.m1211). And there is real and justified fear about personal safety, fuelled by a scandalous and widespread lack of personal protective equipment (PPE). Doctors have been reduced to sourcing improvised eye protection, making public appeals for respirator masks, and fundraising for supplies (doi:10.1136/bmj.m1286). Their families (my own included) are parcelling up masks and scrubs and sending them by post, reminiscent of the parcels fondly sent …
Topics & Concepts
Personal protective equipmentFront lineHealth careCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)RespiratorWork (physics)2019-20 coronavirus outbreakPandemicSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)Public relationsMedical emergencyPsychologyBusinessNursingMedicinePolitical scienceLawEngineeringVirologyMechanical engineeringPathologyInfectious disease (medical specialty)DiseaseMaterials scienceComposite materialOutbreakHealthcare Systems and Challenges