Half my patients died. They died from one disease, but so many different deaths.
After a decade of honing my ability to quickly determine “sick or not sick” and allocating time and resources accordingly, I learned that when managing a ward of patients with Ebola, clinical appearance did not always predict survival.
Layers of impermeable and stifling personal protective equipment (PPE) constitute an enormous physical barrier to patient care, complicating management of Ebola virus disease (EVD). The ability to auscultate is gone, you cannot smell, and layers of gloves blunt your tactile sense. You cannot risk touching your face to readjust your PPE, so visual cues can also be a challenge.
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