4 minute read
UPMC: An Interview with Dr. Steven Zanders
FEATURE:
An Interview With Dr. Steven Zanders
Associate Director of Intensive Care for Medical Critical Care for UPMC Memorial System System Director for Neurologic Critical & Stroke Patients
Dr. Zanders has spent the last 21 months in ICU units and has dealt with the physical and mental trauma brought on by the COVID 19 pandemic. The trauma continues as he deals with patients who made the decision not to be vaccinated.
I asked Dr. Zanders several questions relating to his role as an ICU physician during the pandemic and the variants that are now present and affecting thousands of people every day.
Were you surprised by the behaviors of humanity?
I have been more surprised by the most recent behaviors of individuals refusing to be vaccinated. The research and testing have proven the vaccines work and are safe. Masks provide additional protection from the spreading of COVID and its variants. When individuals decide not to get vaccinated or wear a mask, they are basing that decision on what they consider their personal freedoms without considering the impact their choice has on others. And instead of thanking us for the care they or their loved ones receive, they are angry and even claiming that COVID isn’t real but something the government made up. Meanwhile, beds in many hospitals are full of unvaccinated patients leaving no room to bring in patients with other diseases requiring treatment. As of now we are at full capacity and there is danger for patients with non-COVID related disease in getting help.
What perspective have you gained from the last 21 months in the Intensive Care Unit?
There would be a different outcome in the future. Nothing can change the polarized nature of this. There have been many deaths in the ICU. Treatment plans had to be changed and limited by age. The entire health care system will and is being affected. Nurses and doctors are digging in and not giving up
but are losing ground. Those 50+ years of age and needing advanced therapy have limited options now just based on the sheer numbers of patients currently in the ICU with COVID. At the end of January, we peaked around 300 COVID patients. By the end of May and into early June, the number of COVID patients declined to zero. At the end of the vaccine series, there were no patients in the unit. Now, with the variants, the higher death rates have resumed.
Do you foresee different ways of handling Intensive care patients in the next five to ten years?
We are so heavy into the pandemic that we can’t even see one year ahead. I do see Telemedicine becoming more consistent in the future. It is a safe way to manage and care for patients.
Are there any positive outcomes?
Treating COVID patients gave us something not only to believe in but to fight for much like a war. Working together gave us all a purpose and put doctors back at the baseline as a reminder not to forget why we do what we do. We worked with basic roots of medicine under science and physiology, human pathology with deeper thinking in regard to this new disease.
How are the medical teams holding up?
It is important for each individual to take care of themselves. A lot of the nurses and providers are going to counseling and a larger proportion are leaving health care. There are numerous call outs with illness as the reason. They are dealing with alcoholism, living in unhealthy relationships and getting divorced. Individuals are trying to find counseling. Dealing with death at this level takes its toll on even the strongest individuals. We are now dealing with younger people contacting the disease and dying from it. We are dealing with families that are taking their anger out on us adding insult to injury. We will keep fighting. To refer a patient please call or visit online.
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