Welcome back. Coronavirus is all over the news and for good reason. This virus
spreads easily and is contagious but is it the big thing we need to worry about?
We're going to talk about that right after this. Welcome back my name is Tammy
and this is NurseMinder and on this channel we do everything nursing so if
you're new here consider subscribing below so that you get the next video
when its released. Welcome back we are talking coronavirus today and I want to
give you some up-to-date information to help you prepare and prevent it from
happening to you, and caring for maybe those who around you that are affected
by it. So the corona virus is also known as Covid 19, Co stands for corona, vi for
virus, a disease and 2019 is a year in which it was discovered. So Covid
19. Now Covid 19 is actually just the name of the disease it is, it is caused
by the virus SARS-CoV 2 so that's the name of the virus that causes the
disease. Now corona itself is a group or family of viruses that is commonly found
in animals such as camels and bats and, oh I didn't put down their, camels, bats and I
forget the others - there there are a few others - and it's not as often found
humans, but it can be transmitted to humans as we have seen in these SARS
outbreak and in the MEWS outbreak and now we're seeing it again in the COVID
19 outbreak. It is a virus so this is really important to know because
antibiotics will not help you. So coming in to the physician's office and looking
for treatment well there really isn't any treatment even except for symptoms
and we'll talk about that. Now Corona itself is from a latin word and it means
crown or wreath and you can see how beautiful this corona virus would be
sitting on someone's head it is absolutely stunning. However, we don't
want it hanging around in our nose or in our lungs so what happens is these viral
spikes as they're called or proteins is what we call
in healthcare, they are like keys - they're like the lock and the key will open them
up in order to cause a change inside the cell that they attach to. Now when they
attach to places like in your nose it causes a runny nose, stuffy nose, kind of
some congestion. We get more concerned though when it attaches to the cells in
your lungs because then it starts to interfere with the oxygenation and that
is usually what brings people into the hospitals because they're feeling short
of breath and they need support in their respiratory system. So we give them
things like oxygen. now Corona itself is a large family of viruses - here it is -
camels, cattle, cats, and bats. Almost sounds like a rhyme. And these are known
as reservoirs and humans are reservoirs as well - what does that mean? Is that
these viruses cannot move and transport on their own they actually need a host
cell and so the animal will transfer from one animal to another, humans - what
we know about this is how its transferred is through secretions and
we're going to talk about that as well. But it is these spikes that latch on to
those cells in the body and then they create changes inside the cells
functioning that results in the symptoms that we are seeing. Now we know that this
started in China, that's where the epicenter is and that was the center of
the outbreak and we think it's linked to a seafood market and live animal market
where the first transmission from animal to human occurred. Later this is now
spreading from person to person and at first it caused a lot of concern as to
how it's being spread which is why we saw a lot of pan, pandemonium about how
do I protect myself. We know better now so we're gonna give you the - gonna
give you the goods. It then spread outside of China and went to Australia
and China - sorry - Australia, Canada, the US where we're
starting to see cases of this now. The good thing is most of the cases are mild
which means you're just gonna feel like you have a flu, cough cold kind of thing.
There's a small, small percentage of people that end up coming into the
hospital and staying in the hospital for prolonged treatment and what I read
from the CDC website today is that in fact children are not being as affected -
as affected as we normally thought and it is more than people who have
weakened immune system, are elderly population, who can't create the
antibodies. Because currently what's happening, when this virus enters our
system is we have no defense mechanism against it. It is an unknown and your
antibodies need to develop to protect you and create a defense, and if you have
a weakened immune system you're less likely able to do that. So what do we
know now this is March - I may not even sure what day it is -it is March 4th. It is
March 4th 2020 so you was want to be keeping up to date with your Center
Disease Control or your hospital policies to make sure you're practicing
in the best practice for the day. But let's talk about what you know. First of all we
know that it transmits through respiratory droplet. So when people
cough and sneeze those larger droplets are going through the air and so uh we want
to stay a distance of about 6 feet away from people so that's almost 2 meters. If
we can. Now of course, working as healthcare providers, that's an
impossibility so I've got some information for you on your protective
gear coming up. Those sneeze particles can travel a metre or so and they hang
in the air for about 10 minutes - like their large heavy particles but they
could still hang around for a while. Now we do not know, I was unable to determine
from the research, how long these particles stay on contact - so if you come
into contact with a surface in which those infectious particles have landed
on and you touch it, and then you touch your face - like we love to touch our face -
we've now given that virus from the desk or from the countertop a route of
transmission, we've become its legs, and we have brought it to a port of entry
which could be your mouth, your nose, your eyes. So we want to be watching out for
those contact with infected surfaces. Now the incubation period is 2 to 14 days.
This is why when you see people on that cruise ship that had to stay out there
for several weeks at a time or they get flown back in and they go into
quarantine for 2 weeks that's because after 2 weeks if the symptoms have not
presented it's considered to be that they are not infectious. So anywhere from
2 to 14 days you may start to see the symptoms,
but that means your infectious, you can pass this on even though you don't have
symptoms. Which is part of the reason why it makes it difficult to contain because
people feel healthy - they don't know there's something wrong and they go out
there three days later they feel sick and then a week later half your office
is sick. Right? Isn't it how it always goes? For sure.
Okay signs and symptoms that you want to look for are very similar to a flu. Right.
so we feel rundown, we feel like we got the the sniffles and
we have a cough, a fever maybe and short of breath and a sore throat.
in terms of diagnosing it there is a test called the SARS-COV 2 RT PCR kit
and that is a laboratory test that they will run to determine if you
have, if you are a carrier, or if your infectious with this disease. I don't
know how long it takes to get this test result back so somebody knows that'd be
great if you could add that to our conversation in the comments below and
just share what you know about this test and how - I mean sometimes tests aren't
conclusive - maybe this is just an aid or maybe it is a diagnostic I'd
love to know a little bit more no. In terms of treatment there is no antiviral.
You can't take antibiotics so we're really looking at symptom management. If
you have a stuffy nose we're gonna recommend that you take an antihistamin.
If you have a sore throat we're gonna say gargle with salt water and and take
a medication to help soothe the pain there like a cough syrup. If you have a
fever take some Tylenol and drink lots of fluids - so it's really symptom
management at home and in the hospital should you be in the hospital. Now the
best way to prevent it - this is important. This is why there's a lot of talk about
hand hygiene in fact just this morning on the radio there is this debate about
how long should I wash my hands for. And I can understand that there is some
concern around the length of time people wash their hands - 20 seconds is the
minimum. Good soap and water lather, twenty seconds - you know they say just
sing the Happy Birthday song but there was lots of fun today on the radio about
different songs you can use to get to 20 seconds. Of course if you feel like you'd
like to go longer you're more than welcome to do that. There is no harm in
going longer, Now if you do have a cough you want to use your cough
etiquette and cover up your mouth when you cough. If you use a tissue paper to do
that- make sure the tissue goes on the garbage and you're washing your hands
afterwards. the masking of people. So we see a lot of people in community
wearing masks right now and for the most part they're not necessary. If you have
symptoms the reason we mask you is so that you're not spreading those
microorganisms to other people. So that's one of the reasons why you'll see people
in the hospital, in the waiting room at the triage for emerge wearing a mask - is to
protect others around them. Now these masks that you see in this picture here -
I'm hoping you can see it that very well - these are typical face masks, they don't
seal out everything and so there was a risk still for the virus to get inside
should you be near somebody and as a public person - like in the public you don't
need to have a special mask at this point, just maintain your distance, health
care providers will be wearing a specially-designed mask that is tested
for their face in order to protect inhaling those microorganisms because we
do work so close with our patients. Disinfecting your surfaces - absolutely.
You know we said we talked about how contact is one of the ways in which this
virus gets legs and moves around so cleaning your surfaces with a
disinfectant. Now here are some key things- I know you probably can't read
that so I'm just going to read it to you - don't touch your eyes, don't touch your
mouth, don't touch your nose. Primarily putting a mask on your face it's kind of
like a clue to not do any of those things. So if that makes you feel
comfortable, go ahead wear the mask I'm not gonna like say otherwise, but really
the mask is more just a barrier so that should you touch your face which we all
do, it's gonna prevent to that transmission. And if this virus can't get
where it needs to go - guess what the virus is gone -
done boom-boom-boom, we won't have to worry about it anymore so let's do it let's do
our job people! Self quarantine if you are ill. Don't go out, don't go to work,
stay home. Take care of your symptoms. If you need something from the store call a
friend or a neighbor if you can or uber delivers maybe they can pick that up for
you I don't know I've never tried it but
Yes stay home if you're not well. If you actually need to go to the doctors -
absolutely go, but maybe call ahead and let them know and they can give you a mask as soon
as you arrive . Now health care providers, I know you can't see this but I'm going
to talk to you first about some of the things that you need to be aware of.
First of all, in terms of your precaution, this is both - actually this is three - your
standard precautions, your contact precautions, and your airborne
precautions. So you'll be wearing an N95 mask - most likely, check with your
facility - to make sure that we are not putting ourselves at risk. So you want to
be also looking at your donning and doffing routine to make sure you're
following that protocol to minimize the risk of transmission. Hand hygiene, hand
hygiene, hand hygiene: before and after patient contact, before and after
environmental contact, after being in contact with infectious materials, always
wash your hands. That can be with the sanitizer so one or two pumps they're a
nice good lather - air dry - it's important not to let that rub off with a towel or
soap in water twenty seconds.And, that's it. So stay up to date with the
information so that you can keep yourself in the best position to help
your patients. It's one of the competencies of Nursing is being aware
of the emerging trends and this is definitely an emerging trend. So until
next time, stay safe, wash your hands and make it a great day guys :)