Yet Another Failed Fit Test

The last two weeks have brought even further changes to our rotas. With the number of COVID cases gradually reducing in my hospital, services that had been put on hold are being restarted, and staff are slowly being redeployed back to their original wards.

So what has this meant for me? Well I’m no longer on a Gastro ward! After two months of life as a gastro junior doctor, I have now been sent back to my base ward- respiratory.

Not going to lie, after weeks of feeling drained and exhausted because of how busy the gastro ward was, I thought I would be more relieved to be going back, so I was surprised to find that I was actually a bit… sad?

Don’t get me wrong, life as a gastro junior was stressful AF, but I’m only now realising just how much I learned and grew as a doctor because of it. Spending many shifts as the only doctor on the ward meant I was reviewing patients on my own, which has increased my confidence with this. I’m also much quicker at getting through my jobs and A LOT better with cannulas- turns out situations involving patients with huge GI bleeds, who need transfusions ASAP, make you just get on with getting that cannula in without overthinking it, because the pressure is real, you know? I’m now pretty decent at taking bloods from IV drug users too, because we had quite a few of them on the ward throughout lockdown.

I learnt a lot about gastroenterology during my time on the ward- the registrars and consultants were always keen to teach, and I was very surprised to come to the realisation that I actually really like gastro physiology.

ALSO, have I mentioned that I now know how to do ascitic drains??? I don’t think it’s come up much…

Anyway, I’m grateful for my time on gastro, and I know that it has prepared me well for my gastro job next year as an F2 😊

In other news, being back on Respiratory means that I need to be Fit tested again, because I will be seeing respiratory/suspected COVID patients a lot more now. So I had my third Fit test last week with the smaller masks…

…. and I failed yet again. Sigh.

I’ve been told that the final option is for me to have a respirator mask, which is a lot sturdier and likely to fit. Currently trying to get that sorted before my on call shifts, and in the mean time, I am not to see suspected COVID patients/do ABGs on patients on NIV, because of increased risk of infection if I don’t have a secure mask. Here’s hoping I can get a respirator soon!

Finally, I had my antibody test results come back and not going to lie I was a bit disappointed by the negative result. But it means I most probably haven’t had COVID so we thank God! 🙏🏽

I Failed My Fit Test

Apparently my face is too small, so none of the masks I was fit tested with made a tight enough seal around it, and this is slightly worrying.

For anyone who doesn’t know what I’m talking about, a fit test is done to check that masks worn by healthcare staff in hospital fit properly, to make sure that they’re fully protected from infected patients. It involves being tried with masks and different things being sprayed in the air, so you fail if you can smell/taste them, because that means your mask isn’t tight/secure enough.

I didn’t even get to the spray part of the test because all the masks were too big #peak

So what does this mean? At the moment I have two options:

1. Be tested with another mask a.k.a ‘The Hood’ – these are more secure but expensive though, and there’s been supply/funding issues with securing these nationwide, so we’re not sure when they will come.
2. Be moved to work in a ‘lower risk’ ward to avoid contact with COVID-19 patients.

Really hoping we get more of those masks, because I really really don’t want to get moved. I know it would make you feel better, mum, but I love my team and I love working in Respiratory, so it would suck to leave them for another ward.

In other news, a quick rant on the importance of social distancing:

Seeing people on social media still going out unnecessarily has been frustrating and quite concerning. Hopefully this will become less of a thing with the Government closing things down today, but I can’t stress enough how vital it is to stay at home if you can. I understand that not everyone has the privilege to be able to work from home, and that there are many key workers who need to still go out, but if you can, STAY AT HOME.

“Why?” you ask- “If I’m young and healthy, surely I’ll be fine” is what a lot of people must be thinking right now, and yes, COVID-19 will most probably not affect you severely if you do get it, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a chance it could, because it could be you or someone you love requiring ventilation to help you breath. We’ve heard scary rumours of F1 and ICU doctors in London dying, and new data is showing that more and more young people are getting really ill with it, so please take this more seriously.

You see, the aim of social distancing is to reduce the number of people who get infected, because that will reduce the burden on the healthcare service, and make more ICU beds and ventilators available for the people who get really sick. Because if you require ventilation to help you breathe and can’t get it, chances of survival are very slim.

Some numbers to drum this in a bit more:

• There are about 3000 ICU beds with ventilator capacity in the whole of the UK.
• My hospital, one of the biggest in my area, has around 30 ICU beds.
• My ward is a specialist Respiratory ward, and we have 6 ventilators. SIX.
• My hospital’s mortuary has been told to expect at least 4000 additional bodies.

I’ve accepted the fact that I will probably not see my family and friends at home for a long time, because I need to stay away from them to make sure I don’t infect them and vice versa. Many of my colleagues have said their goodbyes to their parents and families and moved closer to the hospital, because they know social distancing is one of the best ways to reduce the impact of COVID-19.

So, PLEASE, be a bit more considerate and just stay at home.

I’ll conclude with something uplifting: feeling so grateful to all the restaurants and stores showing support for NHS staff with free food, drinks and discounts at the moment. It really does feel like the whole country is rooting for the NHS right now, and it’s really heartwarming.