It may have been a simulation but the scene inside Gisborne Hospital on Wednesday looked all too real as anaesthetist Dr Leigh Willoughby and hospital staff worked to transfer a patient with COVID-19 from maternity to a newly created theatre for a caesarean.
The patient, a mannequin wearing a pregnancy suit, was created as a realistic way to simulate the look and feel of an emergency situation giving the broad range of hospital staff who would respond a realistic experience to test their procedures.
Hauora Tairawhiti Chief Medical Officer Dr Anne Kolbe says clinical staff have been working hard these past three weeks creating new processes and pathways for managing patients in the new COVID-19 world we live in.
“Staff are using all the international literature available from other countries and guidance from international and national colleagues to create plans, test them and revise them, so if they need to be operationalised staff can quickly activate their response.”
Yesterday’s real time scenario involved an obstetrician, theatre staff, a paediatric nurse, midwives, a neonatal nurse, and an anaesthetist.
Dr Willoughby says the maternity simulation created conversations at nearly every point.
“Every environment is different, every patient is different, and so by doing the real time simulation we were able to readjust, improve and calibrate what we were doing to protect staff and patient with the valuable insight of everyone there.”
Other clinical simulations have been run over the past three weeks in the emergency department, the intensive care unit and in theatre with more to follow.
Dr Kolbe says “staff at Gisborne Hospital have prepared carefully and wisely” for the worst case scenario during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“But with our community uniting against COVID-19 it’s hoped a real life hospital worst case scenario response is not needed.”
Dr Kolbe’s plea to the Tairawhiti community is “Please play your part - it is important to stay home, stop the spread, and save lives.
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