A Medical Practitioner’s Daily Routine in the Wake of COVID-19
The outbreak of the coronavirus has changed the lives of Americans, especially those in the medical field who are the front-line defense against COVID-19.
Medical practitioners across the country brace themselves for the increasing spread of the coronavirus. The life-threatening virus continues to spread across the country even with the guidelines emplaced by the federal government. Now that we are the leading country with COVID-19 cases, medical personnel are prepared to continue to risk their lives each day.
Kareshma Puglisi, 42, is a physician assistant at Go Health Urgent Care in Hampton Bays, NY.
“My typical mornings now are just me mentally preparing for work,” Puglisi said. She mentioned working in such a risky environment is frightening and she makes sure to take extra precautions at work.
Regardless of being cautious, just putting herself in the presence of people with the virus makes her nervous, Puglisi mentioned.
“The first thing I do when I get to work is clean my work station, and see what patients will be coming in,” Puglisi said. Go Health Urgent Care is only taking patients if they call prior to coming in and are only seeing one patient at a time, according to Puglisi.
She said they are seeing patients with any health issues, but for those who want to be tested for the coronavirus must meet certain criteria.
“Currently, we are only testing essential workers that have either been exposed to the virus or that are showing symptoms,” Puglisi said. The number of tests available to this urgent care is limited which is why they have to be so selective in determining who is eligible.
When someone calls to come in to the urgent care, she meets them outside and provides them with a mask and gloves before entering the building. She leads them directly in to the room where they will be tested.
“For those who called ahead to be tested for the virus are taken in to one specific room,” Puglisi said. There is one room in the urgent care dedicated to COVID-19 patients only.
When she sees patients, she is completely covered. She wears a hair net, goggles, mask, gown, and two pairs of gloves.
But, she mentioned in a recent interview, there is starting to be a shortage of certain materials like masks. She is not willing to risk possible exposure if necessary materials are not replenished.
During the day when there were no patients in the Urgent Care, she wore a mask just to be safe.
“After each patient I see, I throw away the first pair of gloves and then disinfect the whole room,” Puglisi said. After disinfecting the room she throws away her disposable gear and washes her hands and face.
Puglisi also mentioned they have stopped the use of medical assistants to reduce the amount of people endangering their lives. She said having another person risk their life to take vitals is unnecessary when she has to perform the test herself anyway.
Puglisi said throughout her 12-hour shift she tested 25 people for the coronavirus.
“Just last week I tested 20 people for the virus, and 15 of those tests came back positive,” Puglisi said. Seeing how many people test positive is what makes her take these extra precautions she said.
She mentioned when she gets home from work, she disinfects her car completely before entering her home.
“I find it really important to disinfect my car just to be safe,” Puglisi said. She said it is better to be safe than sorry when dealing with a virus that is so highly contagious.
“When I walk in the house, I immediately undress in the garage and throw my clothes in the wash,” Puglisi said. She then takes a hot shower and thoroughly washes her hair.
“The virus stays in your hair the longest — up to nine hours,” Puglisi said.
She said even once she showers, she makes sure to stay at least six-feet away from her children and practices social distancing. She mentioned the hardest part of all of this is not being able to be close to her kids.
“I haven’t hugged, kissed, or smelled my kids in three weeks,” she said. Puglisi mentioned there is so much risk in being around her kids at this time.
Now that President Trump extended his guidelines through April 30th, she is considering having her children stay with their dad until this is all over. Being a divorced mom, she said this might be the best option for her kids.
“It has gotten to the point that I’m scared to come home and even be in the same house as my kids. The numbers are only increasing at this point and it makes me worried,” she said.
Puglisi said although this is a scary time to be working in the medical field, it is her duty to help the American people.
