More specialists needed to operate ventilators – Allen

The University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) currently has 36 functional ventilators ready to assist in the battle against COVID-19, but specialists to operate these machines have been in short supply.

Chief executive officer at the type A hospital, Kevin Allen, said intensive care unit (ICU) nurses are needed to man the machines, but even before the recent upsurge in COVID-19 cases, these nurses could not be easily sourced.

“The number of ICU nurses we require at the hospital is 160, and actively on the ground we were at about 48,” he said.

The hospital has moved from having just two active COVID-19 cases three weeks ago to 23 on Thursday.

“You could have 100 ventilators, but if you don’t have the specialists nurse to man them, it is useless; it can’t do nothing. It is a specialised piece of equipment that needs specialised training,” said the hospital administrator.

“Ventilators run 24/7, you need at least three nurses, four nurses to be allocated to a ventilator, because it’s running for a day,” Allen explained.

Training nurses

He said the hospital has embarked on a programme to train some of the nurses to operate the ventilators, and has been appealing for more nurses and doctors to come join their team.

Chief of medical staff at UHWI, Dr Carl Bruce, noted that the appeal for more doctors in particular has yielded a few responses.

“We have been advertising from December. We advertised in December 2019 for additional medical officers to reinforce those doctors who are studying. At that point, we had no take-up. We advertised again in April and I believe we had two doctors. In June we advertised and we have gotten so far three responses,” he disclosed during a Ministry of Health & Wellness press conference on Thursday.

Jamaica’s COVID-19 cases were 1,870 on Thursday.