March 20, 2020 • 7 mins
Many experts have signaled that the U.S. could be in for a shortage of life-saving ventilators amid the coronavirus pandemic. While we are not currently short, hospitals are trying to brace themselves for a spike in severe cases where patients need help breathing. The government is ordering more and encouraging states to also do the same. Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, Fox News medical contributor, joins us for what to know about a possible ventilator shortage.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Friday, March. I'm Oscar Ramiras from the Daily Dive
podcast in Los Angeles, and this is your daily coronavirus update.
Many experts have signaled that the U S could be
in for a shortage of life saving ventilators. While we
are not currently short, hospitals are trying to brace themselves
for a spike in severe cases where patients need help breathing.
(00:21):
The government is ordering more and encouraging states to also
do the same. Dr Jeanette Nesh, what Fox News medical
contributor joins us for What to Know about a possible
ventilator shortage? Thanks for joining us, Dr Nesh, what my pleasure?
I wanted to talk about ventilators in this whole thing
that we're going through with a coronavirus COVID nineteen. A
(00:42):
lot of people, a lot of experts, are pointing to
a possible ventilator shortage, and really that's the main supportive
treatment for patients that get into this critical stage of
COVID nineteen. A lot of them need to be put
on these ventilators when their lungs just aren't providing the
amount of oxygen that they need. Dr Nesh, what tell
us a little bit about this whole process of getting
(01:03):
ventilators and this possible shortage that we could be seeing.
We don't have ventilator shortage right now. This is just
a matter of predicting the future, predicting our potential needs
and preparing for the potential of having to have thousands
and thousands of more ventilators. We currently have thousands in
our current stockstiles here in the United States, but it's
(01:24):
estimated that we may be thousands short. But as it
is right now, manufacturers have been working with our governments
administration to help create and produce not only more ventilators,
but also pp s were which are just as critical
for helthcare providers. PPEs meaning gowns, mass gloves, those sorts
(01:44):
of things. For those that aren't familiar with what a
ventilator is, sometimes an infection can get into your system
and can cause shok and people can stop breathing on
their own. So the ventilator is just an artificial breathing
tool until your body is well enough been strong enough
to breathe on its own, if you will. So that's
the purpose of that. Someone comes in with respiratory distress
(02:06):
and oxygen isn't helping. Steroids aren't helping, and they're not
able to breathe on their own, you know, they lose
consciousness sometimes maps when we have to put them on
a ventilator and that means where we put a tube
into your body so that we can do artificial breathing
for you. And the goal is it's just to be
temporary until your body heals. Yeah, the administration has said
(02:26):
that they've ordered a lot more. Obviously we have a
stockpile also, but they're encouraging states and cities and other
hospitals to go straight to the manufacturers I guess to
order them as well. These things can be very costly.
One of the manufacturers is called Medtronics so Metronic I
SEU ventilator can cost between twenty five thou to fifty
dollars and they're big, they're big items. But beyond this,
(02:50):
also the people needed to operate these ventilators is important also,
And as you mentioned, there's not necessarily a shortage now,
but we're trying to get ahead of this so predicting
the future, but there are lower numbers of people that
can actually operate these things as well. We have what
are called our keys respiratory technicians who are just phenomenal
and monitoring patients who are on ventilators. They work closely
(03:13):
with i C pulmonologists and they are just critical in
the field of pulmonology and I C use and yes,
if you are short on healthcare providers, then it defeats
the purpose of having the equipment. So that's why it's
so important to that we keep our healthcare providers that
we do have healthy and safe, and also not only
stock up on ventilators and other supplies, but also have
(03:36):
surge staffing to help meet the potential surge capacity that
we may see here in the next few weeks. Dr.
I wanted to ask about your practice in general and
patients that you've seen coming in obviously worried that they
might have coronavirus. You've done a bunch of testing as well.
Tell us about that process and just patients that you've
(03:57):
seen and most likely suspect that they have this as well. Right,
it's not a surprise that we're going to see increase
number of cases, especially as we have the expansion of
testing capability. I have had patients come in with flu
like symptoms, covid like symptoms, the symptoms overlap. A lot
of them are are similar fever cops, shortness of breath,
a source throat, and running nose congestion. So what we
(04:20):
do is initially we will check their vitals and do
an influenza test first, which is a quick test that
you swab the nose, and if that is positive, then
we stop right there and we will send them home
on medications and follow up instructions. But if it's a
negative test and they have fever, low oxygen levels, and
that they don't look well and they need the criteria,
(04:41):
then we will proceed to swab them for coronavirus, and
while we wait for those results, we put them on
fourteen day quarantine so that they are not infecting other
people while we're waiting for those results, which can take
several days up to a week as it is right now,
but soon and I hope we'll be able to have
a more rapid testing results a specific medicine that you prescribe.
(05:01):
Let's say they test negative for the flu and we
suspect to have COVID nineteen. Is there any medication that
you're prescribing at that point? As of right now, there
is no FDA Improved medications to treat COVID nineteen coronavirus.
There are some areas of the world where they're using,
for example, anti virals like called REMDA severe callitris. Some
anti HIV medicine and some LA medicines have been tried. Also,
(05:25):
some malaria medications have been used as a last resort.
But as it is right now, the only thing I'm
prescribing our supportive medicine. Like, for example, as someone says
I just feel a little short of bread, I will
give them a breathing nebulizer machine in the office, and
I will prescribe to them and an inhaler like an
albuterole inhaler for example. And if they're coughing, I will also,
you know, say hey, use the humidifier, drink lots of fluids,
(05:47):
stay hydrated. You can use them over the counter cough
medicines and all over the counter thail and al robit
proform for fever. And sometimes I'll prescribe prescriptions drink cough
medicine like Benzona, take capsules or something like that, or
some corpstips only if it's needed. If there for example,
having trouble sleeping or if they're wheezing, then will add
a little bit of a steroid to so it's more
symptomatic care. But of course that's not all. We really
(06:10):
have to make sure that we're giving them very strict
precautions to stay home and rest so that they don't
spread to other people. Even if it's not coronavirus, the
flues that's contagious, you can spread that as well. And
then on top of that we give them very strict
our precautions and tell them if your symptoms worse and
if you cannot breathe, if you're having chest pain and
your sort of breath, then will have them seek further
medical care and give them emergency instructions. Dr Jeanette Nish
(06:34):
what Fox News medical contributor and family and emergency medical doctor,
thank you very much for joining us. It's my pleasure.
Thank you for having me. This has been your daily
coronavirus update. Don't forget that. For today's big news stories,
you can check me out on the Daily Dive podcast
every Monday through Friday, So follow us on our heart
radio or wherever you get your podcast
It's Friday, March. I'm Oscar Ramiras from the Daily Dive
podcast in Los Angeles, and this is your daily coronavirus update.
Many experts have signaled that the U S could be
in for a shortage of life saving ventilators. While we
are not currently short, hospitals are trying to brace themselves
for a spike in severe cases where patients need help breathing.
(00:21):
The government is ordering more and encouraging states to also
do the same. Dr Jeanette Nesh, what Fox News medical
contributor joins us for What to Know about a possible
ventilator shortage? Thanks for joining us, Dr Nesh, what my pleasure?
I wanted to talk about ventilators in this whole thing
that we're going through with a coronavirus COVID nineteen. A
(00:42):
lot of people, a lot of experts, are pointing to
a possible ventilator shortage, and really that's the main supportive
treatment for patients that get into this critical stage of
COVID nineteen. A lot of them need to be put
on these ventilators when their lungs just aren't providing the
amount of oxygen that they need. Dr Nesh, what tell
us a little bit about this whole process of getting
(01:03):
ventilators and this possible shortage that we could be seeing.
We don't have ventilator shortage right now. This is just
a matter of predicting the future, predicting our potential needs
and preparing for the potential of having to have thousands
and thousands of more ventilators. We currently have thousands in
our current stockstiles here in the United States, but it's
(01:24):
estimated that we may be thousands short. But as it
is right now, manufacturers have been working with our governments
administration to help create and produce not only more ventilators,
but also pp s were which are just as critical
for helthcare providers. PPEs meaning gowns, mass gloves, those sorts
(01:44):
of things. For those that aren't familiar with what a
ventilator is, sometimes an infection can get into your system
and can cause shok and people can stop breathing on
their own. So the ventilator is just an artificial breathing
tool until your body is well enough been strong enough
to breathe on its own, if you will. So that's
the purpose of that. Someone comes in with respiratory distress
(02:06):
and oxygen isn't helping. Steroids aren't helping, and they're not
able to breathe on their own, you know, they lose
consciousness sometimes maps when we have to put them on
a ventilator and that means where we put a tube
into your body so that we can do artificial breathing
for you. And the goal is it's just to be
temporary until your body heals. Yeah, the administration has said
(02:26):
that they've ordered a lot more. Obviously we have a
stockpile also, but they're encouraging states and cities and other
hospitals to go straight to the manufacturers I guess to
order them as well. These things can be very costly.
One of the manufacturers is called Medtronics so Metronic I
SEU ventilator can cost between twenty five thou to fifty
dollars and they're big, they're big items. But beyond this,
(02:50):
also the people needed to operate these ventilators is important also,
And as you mentioned, there's not necessarily a shortage now,
but we're trying to get ahead of this so predicting
the future, but there are lower numbers of people that
can actually operate these things as well. We have what
are called our keys respiratory technicians who are just phenomenal
and monitoring patients who are on ventilators. They work closely
(03:13):
with i C pulmonologists and they are just critical in
the field of pulmonology and I C use and yes,
if you are short on healthcare providers, then it defeats
the purpose of having the equipment. So that's why it's
so important to that we keep our healthcare providers that
we do have healthy and safe, and also not only
stock up on ventilators and other supplies, but also have
(03:36):
surge staffing to help meet the potential surge capacity that
we may see here in the next few weeks. Dr.
I wanted to ask about your practice in general and
patients that you've seen coming in obviously worried that they
might have coronavirus. You've done a bunch of testing as well.
Tell us about that process and just patients that you've
(03:57):
seen and most likely suspect that they have this as well. Right,
it's not a surprise that we're going to see increase
number of cases, especially as we have the expansion of
testing capability. I have had patients come in with flu
like symptoms, covid like symptoms, the symptoms overlap. A lot
of them are are similar fever cops, shortness of breath,
a source throat, and running nose congestion. So what we
(04:20):
do is initially we will check their vitals and do
an influenza test first, which is a quick test that
you swab the nose, and if that is positive, then
we stop right there and we will send them home
on medications and follow up instructions. But if it's a
negative test and they have fever, low oxygen levels, and
that they don't look well and they need the criteria,
(04:41):
then we will proceed to swab them for coronavirus, and
while we wait for those results, we put them on
fourteen day quarantine so that they are not infecting other
people while we're waiting for those results, which can take
several days up to a week as it is right now,
but soon and I hope we'll be able to have
a more rapid testing results a specific medicine that you prescribe.
(05:01):
Let's say they test negative for the flu and we
suspect to have COVID nineteen. Is there any medication that
you're prescribing at that point? As of right now, there
is no FDA Improved medications to treat COVID nineteen coronavirus.
There are some areas of the world where they're using,
for example, anti virals like called REMDA severe callitris. Some
anti HIV medicine and some LA medicines have been tried. Also,
(05:25):
some malaria medications have been used as a last resort.
But as it is right now, the only thing I'm
prescribing our supportive medicine. Like, for example, as someone says
I just feel a little short of bread, I will
give them a breathing nebulizer machine in the office, and
I will prescribe to them and an inhaler like an
albuterole inhaler for example. And if they're coughing, I will also,
you know, say hey, use the humidifier, drink lots of fluids,
(05:47):
stay hydrated. You can use them over the counter cough
medicines and all over the counter thail and al robit
proform for fever. And sometimes I'll prescribe prescriptions drink cough
medicine like Benzona, take capsules or something like that, or
some corpstips only if it's needed. If there for example,
having trouble sleeping or if they're wheezing, then will add
a little bit of a steroid to so it's more
symptomatic care. But of course that's not all. We really
(06:10):
have to make sure that we're giving them very strict
precautions to stay home and rest so that they don't
spread to other people. Even if it's not coronavirus, the
flues that's contagious, you can spread that as well. And
then on top of that we give them very strict
our precautions and tell them if your symptoms worse and
if you cannot breathe, if you're having chest pain and
your sort of breath, then will have them seek further
medical care and give them emergency instructions. Dr Jeanette Nish
(06:34):
what Fox News medical contributor and family and emergency medical doctor,
thank you very much for joining us. It's my pleasure.
Thank you for having me. This has been your daily
coronavirus update. Don't forget that. For today's big news stories,
you can check me out on the Daily Dive podcast
every Monday through Friday, So follow us on our heart
radio or wherever you get your podcast
Popular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com