Federico Conforto
Italy no doctor decides on survival and which patients survive on
the basis of criteria, all patients are equal for the treatments. This
principle is granted by the medical ethics and constitution.In this is
extraordinary situation Italian doctors are facing an intense mental
pressure onlife/death decisions, taking care of patients in critical
condition and fear forown life. In fact this weird and unknown
pneumonia rapidly evolves into MODS(MultipleOrganDysfunctionS
yndrome), increasing the stress of battle with this invisible enemy.
Doctors and all health care workers are at higher risk of infection,
therefore unable to help the population in case of infection. The
major concern is a proper self protection at work and the reasonable
risk for your life. The scenarios can be experienced like war in terms
of higher level of attention, anxiety, concerns, limitations of actions
and at same time emergency action. The paradoxal perception
is triggered by a sense of Emotional and physical detachment
with the patients and emotional and physical detachment with
relatives. The permanent feeling of being catapulted into a very
distant and completely different realityto live, occurs in my mind.
This type feelings and experiencesthat can occur in people who
have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event, such as a serious
accident, terrorist attack or a physical assault, indeed working at
Review on PTSD on Coronavirus Time : A personal experienceIn
Hospital. Being selected as member of CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE
in Italy, makes me proud . No therapy, no defined cure at moment,
Mechanical Ventilation and Intubation canbe helpful. What's the
next? The treatments and protocols we are applying are enough?
For my experience the answer is no. My Experiencing of intense
flashbacks, sometimes nightmares, irritability, anger, and fear in the
middleof a traumatic event like the Covid-19 pandemic, it's common
to feel this way. My moody behavior has increased recently, in
particular after the hard shift. My mindset is on war zone, and it
takes me 48 hours to relaxing. I m not specialized in psychiatry, but I
can recognize that the anger, the mood changes and the other minor
symptoms can be related to this experience and, if not considered
and valued, may develop into a PSTD disorder. Therefore the
psychological support by professional staff is mandatory for health
care workers.
